Guernsey is constantly innovating to compete on the world
stage, writes Colin Le Bachelet of RBC Wealth Management.
Since the onset of the financial crisis, there has been plenty
of debate and discussion about the role of offshore finance centres
(OFCs). For some OFCs this has been uncomfortable, for others it
has been grasped as an opportunity.
Guernsey, which finds itself in the latter camp, has used this
period of heightened interest and awareness in OFCs to prove a
point. That is, far from being a haven for tax evasion, secrecy and
criminal financing, it is one of the most well-regulated,
transparent and compliant jurisdictions in the world. Indeed
Guernsey recently found itself an important new champion when
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg praised the Channel Islands, as
"an important gateway for the wider financial sector and
indeed the economy in the United Kingdom". Ranked number 2 in
the Global Financial Index's list of offshore financial
centres,
