Originally published by
Mourant Ozannes, October 2011
Guernsey's funds industry goes back over 30 years when the
first retail unit trusts were established. At that time, Jersey had
already established a firm foothold with these retail products.
Lacking first mover advantage encouraged Guernsey to find
alternative source of revenues from the funds sector and thus the
Island opened its arms to alternative product types that
weren't necessarily acceptable in Jersey. From the late
1980's onwards, Guernsey began to attract the then smaller
closed ended fund market and many smaller management firms and
start-up funds.
By the time that Jersey made a significant attempt to attract
the growing alternative funds market it found that it was already
entrenched in Guernsey. The growth of the alternative funds market
helped place Guernsey on the map amongst leading offshore fund
jurisdictions. Guernsey had realised that within the offshore
world, the key thing is to have or
