Peter Deacon, new to the island, will be tasked with easing the way for financial services businesses wanting to operate locally. The role is intended to serve as a ‘gateway’ to government, the regulator and Guernsey Finance.
The creation of such a role was recommended in the States’ new 10-year Finance Sector Growth Strategy.
The GFSC said it was happy to support such a role, which it had already been considering itself.
‘Supporting the growth and development of Guernsey’s finance sector has long been an objective for the commission,’ said Alice Joy, director of external affairs at the GFSC.
‘We were therefore pleased to see the Finance Sector Strategy for Growth identify the creation of a concierge service as one of its recommendations, as it reflected ambitions we had already been exploring through our own work.
‘When the commission launched its Innovation Sandbox in October 2025, it included a concierge element designed to help innovative businesses navigate the regulatory process and access the support they needed.
‘The new concierge service builds on that but does so through a broader partnership between the States of Guernsey, Guernsey Finance and the commission.
‘We felt that bringing together regulatory, governmental and industry expertise into a single point of contact would provide the best support for businesses considering establishing or expanding operations in the Bailiwick.’
The creation of the part-time role, which is operating initially as a 12-month pilot, has come in for public criticism since it was announced.
The Economic Development Committee is contributing minority funding for the role from its existing budget.
‘The pilot operates on a collaborative basis, with oversight and reporting arrangements agreed between the relevant parties and its effectiveness will be assessed against those agreed measures at the end of the pilot period,’ a spokesman said.
The growth strategy included reference to a concierge service as part of work to ‘mobilise private sector investment to foster innovation’.
‘This will also include establishing a concierge service for start-up founders, alongside other initiatives to promote innovation, such as potentially hosting competitions or hackathons to stimulate new business ideas and examining the deployment of existing capital pools for investment and alignment with Guernsey’s growth strategy.’