Speech by the Minister for External Relations and Financial Services, Deputy Ian Gorst, at the Financial Services Annual Update on Monday 24 November 2025
Good afternoon everyone.
When we gathered here in July, I said McKinsey’s work would be a “key to the success” of the Competitiveness Programme.
I also said that we might not like everything they told us, but we had not brought them here to give us a pat on the back.
This programme is about listening and acting, to build on our great name as a strong and stable financial services centre and set the industry on course for even greater success in the next decade and beyond.
We have listened.
And some of what McKinsey told us did actually feel like a pat on the back, it is clear that Government and industry are getting the fundamentals right.
But the financial world is changing.
Technology is advancing. New products are emerging. Investment in digital assets, in particular, is growing rapidly.
Where business is done is changing. And the way business is done is changing. It is clear that the privilege has shifted.
It is no longer a privilege for financial services businesses to operate in Jersey. It is now Jersey’s privilege to serve them.
All of us here in Jersey need to be alongside the changes that are sweeping across the financial world.
This requires a fundamental change in how we do things, a reset. Amid this sea of change and increased competition, we need to give businesses a reason to choose Jersey.
Accepting that the privilege has shifted, we need to act now. And in line with the proposals outlined by Alek just now, I can announce that:
- I will be developing plans to bring together a core team of officers to analyse market trends and risks, to spot potential threats and capitalise on opportunities. Policy-making and surveillance resources are currently too distributed around government and its ALOs. This team will ensure any policy changes required to get ahead of the game are done quickly and efficiently.
- this team will develop proposals for a new concierge service to create a seamless onboarding experience for new businesses, offering points of contact and support for their regulatory and logistical requirements. Put simply, we need to have a more welcoming front door. The way various teams and agencies have come together in recent months to support the establishment of Family Office Bank is a great example of this, and should be used as a blueprint going forward.
- working with partners, we will be strengthening our targeted programme of international engagement and business development to reinforce Jersey’s position in key markets and sectors.
- in addition, we will undertake a 12-week sprint review of the JFSC’s enabling law and MoU, with a particular focus on enhancing the relationship between Government and the regulator. We will do this in parallel with the JFSC to help define our jurisdictional risk appetite for certain business, such as digital assets, so that here and abroad everyone has greater clarity about the kinds of business we want to welcome in Jersey. As Alek has already told us, investment in digital assets will continue to grow. My officials are already upskilling in this space and we will prioritise developing a strategic plan to capture this emerging opportunity. I will be setting out my expectations on authorisations for digital assets to the JFSC in the coming weeks.
- I will also be launching a consultation on our civil penalties regime to ensure it is proportionate and fair, and compliant with international norms, in an increasingly competitive environment.
- and there will undoubtedly be opportunity for Government and industry to work with, and alongside, Digital Jersey’s new AI Council as the Island stands at a pivotal moment in the AI revolution.
These initiatives are set against a backdrop of our 0/10 regime and the principle of tax neutrality, which play a central role in Jersey’s international competitiveness. This has been reinforced by the work of McKinsey.
But there is more to do, and the Competitiveness Programme team members have been working creatively with Revenue Jersey on ways to achieve this.
This includes:
- a competitive tax regime for cross-border workers, including a fundamental review of our personal income tax residence rules.
- further work on the Reg Tech tax incentive that I introduced last year – to ensure that we are in the best possible place to adapt new technologies and changing ways of working. Under the emerging Pillar 2 rules, I am also aiming to design a new Pillar 2 compliant incentive in this space, from 1 January next year.
- we are also developing a new digital service to support Pillar 2, which will be extended to all business taxpayers, with work starting early next year.
These are all exciting pieces of work. But I have been clear from the start that while we are thinking of the long-term, I wanted rapid, quick-win changes to our business and regulatory environment.
During the July event, we announced ten such initiatives. Nearly half of these have been completed, with the others in advanced stages.
We have revised the Sound Business Policy, which has improved the ease of doing business in Jersey. The list of activities which potentially pose a reputational risk to the Island has been reduced from 11 to 5, importantly digital assets is no longer on the list.
Incorporation thresholds for the disclosure of beneficial ownership will move from 10 to 25% in the first quarter of next year.
Private lenders are now exempt from Schedule 2, which will reduce compliance costs. A consultation on JFSC guidance and a Ministerial Order for corporate trustees will follow next month.
Improvements to the Reliance and the MLCO regimes are under way, with detailed plans drafted and workshops starting later this week. In relation to both, the legislation and JFSC Handbook will be updated in the first quarter of 2026.
We have consulted on the repeal of COBO, and legislative drafting is well underway.
In October, with the support of industry, we held an initial workshop on the possible KYC solutions available. While changes to the reliance regime are anticipated to reduce some of the immediate challenges relating to KYC, we will progress a tender document for the design and build of a jurisdictional solution.
And to reduce the administrative burden on business, we have moved the collection of funds stats from quarterly to annually.
Today, we are announcing further strands of work. You will hear more about this from a panel later.
It includes proposed changes to the Companies Jersey Law, which will simplify and modernise the legal framework in which businesses operate.
All of this work is designed to have three clear benefits:
- increase the speed of processing transactions
- improve the ease of doing business
- and reduce business compliance costs
These are important changes and there is a lot of work under way. I want this to continue to be a collaboration – a project driven forward by the team but with input and insights from across industry. I would be very happy to talk directly to business, so please do get in touch if you would like to discuss our plans or have your own ideas for strengthening and growing our industry.
We announced in July that we had been lucky enough to secure the services of Sir Howard Davies to chair an expert panel which will lead on the concluding phase of the programme.
In a few moments’ time you will see a short video message from him.
I am pleased to say that we have now appointed the four panel members who will work alongside him.
One of them, Tracy Garrad, has joined us for today’s event.
I’m sure many of you will know Tracy from her time as CEO of HSBC in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
I am very pleased to welcome her onto the panel – and I am delighted that we have brought in experts with such an array of experience across so many sectors. Tracy will tell you more about them all later.
The work of the panel, who will meet for the first time on Wednesday – cannot be underestimated.
We will use their recommendations as the basis for our own action plan – a plan to set the foundations for the growth of our financial services industry for the next decade and beyond.
Let’s remind ourselves that this is an industry that is worth an estimated £3 billion and represents almost half of Jersey’s economy.
It is an industry that directly provides 14,000 jobs in this island, that generates 40% of tax revenues and funds much of our investment in infrastructure and public services.
It is an industry that sustains Island life as we know it.
We are under no illusion that we must get this right. We must understand what the end goal is – and how we are going to get there.
The other day someone asked me what my vision is for our industry.
It is one that is proud of its long-standing reputation for strength and stability, but is never complacent because of it.
An innovative and dynamic industry that embraces change, that acts quickly and with clarity as the world changes around it, that is forward-thinking and intent on growth.
And more than this, it is a government, regulator and industry that all operate with a “privilege has shifted” mindset and, because of that, have one thing at the forefront of everything we do, our customers, our clients.
I look forward to welcoming you back here on 23 March when we will outline our plans for making this vision a reality.
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