New Guernsey Finance chief executive Barnaby Molloy has highlighted that confidence in the ‘substance’ of the island’s leading economic sector and the positive Moneyval assessment it achieved last year has put the island in a good place.
Now the new strategy, which consultants have drawn up at a £550,000 cost to the public purse, due to be published this week, could help to turbo-charge international promotion of the industry.
‘I’m really excited about this year,’ said Mr Molloy.
‘The growth strategy work that we’re doing has been a really good example of how we can collaborate really effectively.
‘Everyone’s been so receptive about collaborating and working together.
‘I think we just needed that single jurisdiction strategy to help galvanise us and understand what’s the roadmap, and what does that look like in action that we can all work on together, but the initial feedback so far has been really positive.’
Mr Molloy said that the industry, regulator and government now had ‘a much better relationship than we’ve ever had’.
‘I think 2025 was an amazing year for Guernsey Finance and I’m incredibly excited about the year ahead.
‘That jurisdictional growth strategy, the way that we’re all aligned on-island with that collaboration, the types of industry leaders we’ve got here, the way that government and the regulator, Guernsey Finance and industry are now working in a more harmonious way.
‘For me, that only signals real excitement and opportunity for the year ahead.’
More than 100 meetings have taken place with stakeholders over the past few months as consultants have pulled together an updated policy framework for the island’s financial services industry.
Last September consultants Oliver Wyman were commissioned, at a cost of more than £550,000, to work on a framework to guide the development and implementation of the prioritised initiatives which would help to define the island’s position in the global marketplace and shape ambitions for the next decade.
Its aim will be to identify how Guernsey can best position itself for long-term success and growth over the next 5-10 years while strengthening the foundations of the industry.
The review covers all established financial services sectors – funds, insurance, banking, pensions and fiduciary services, as well as new and emerging sustainable finance areas including in the digital space, currently being accelerated by the regulator the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.
‘This collaborative effort to take a clear, evidence-based look at Guernsey’s financial services sector marks an important moment for the island,’ said Deputy Andrew Niles, the finance sector lead at Economic Development.
‘This strategy will introduce fresh ideas and create the conditions for our private sector to realise its ambitions, supporting sustainable growth for the decade ahead and beyond.’
The cost of the project is being split three ways, with Economic Development paying nearly two-thirds of the cost, and the remainder supported by the GFSC and Guernsey Finance.
‘We’re very happy to be more transparent’
Guernsey Finance has defended its record on transparency and reporting to stakeholders.
The finance industry’s promotional agency’s transparency record fell under scrutiny when concerns were raised at the end of last year, following the unauthorised release of a training video which led to the departure of two senior members of staff.
It emerged that while Jersey Finance published full accounts and a breakdown of where it spent its money, Guernsey Finance only reported in to the Economic Development Committee, and none of those details were made public.
‘We report in line with our shareholders and our current funding period, so they have quarterly management performance reports, which include our financial statements,’ said new chief executive Barnaby Molloy.
‘We have a board which provides oversight that has both political and private representation on there, and then we also work specifically with the shareholders for any other information they want.
‘I recognise some of the comments that have been in the media recently, and we’re very happy to be more transparent, if that would be beneficial to our shareholders or our stakeholders more broadly, but where we are today, we’re working exactly in line with what we’d agreed with both our shareholders, and we’re very open to looking at that.’
Mr Molloy has also defended the agency’s use of an extra £1m. a year which was targeted at Guernsey Finance after the Covid lockdowns.
‘We’re incredibly proud of how we allocate our resources and very mindful of where our income streams come from. The return on investment and every penny we spend really matters.
‘But KPIs for a promotional agency, are really complex. We would love to have more measurement but our challenge is, what can we find that’s timely, relevant and achievable?
‘So we’re looking forward to working with Giba and government, seeing how we can sharpen this, particularly with the jurisdictional growth strategy that’s giving a big focus on those measurables.
‘We know that people will buy into things when they can understand what the outcomes are, much more than they will with something a bit broader.’