Is working with colleagues from other territories a trend?

Louise Manklow, client director, Estera, replies:

THE investor landscape is evolving at speed. From increasingly complex fund structures, to private clients who are more globally mobile and looking for advice about broader succession plans, advisers are faced with a range of client needs that are demanding changes in the way they work. This includes forging closer working relationships with colleagues across borders in order to deliver the most efficient client-focused solutions.

While Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man have always worked together to some degree, their propositions – not least being well-regulated and having a proven legal framework – are very similar. Historically, because of these similarities, businesses operating in these jurisdictions perhaps did not appreciate how they could complement one another.

Now, however, it is more commonplace to spot where one individual jurisdiction might have more expertise and strength and for jurisdictions to work together to provide a better-quality service. This is often closely aligned with areas of speciality the jurisdiction has.

Guernsey, for instance, is widely recognised for its fund expertise, so, at Estera, when there are fund-related requests for fee proposals or new business enquiries, the Guernsey team is at the fore and we work with colleagues in other jurisdictions to deliver the best solution for our clients.

Many businesses talk about how their clients are international, forward-thinking and operating without boundaries – in order to provide services that align with those clients, advisers need to think and operate in the same way.

The days of being siloed into just one jurisdiction are vanishing rapidly and in order to prosper, we need to be able to work with colleagues from other jurisdictions to properly service the needs of our clients.

At Estera, we are jurisdictionally agnostic and work with colleagues across all our other jurisdictions to provide tailored bespoke solutions for our fund and trust clients.