Jersey Governance

Jersey is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, which means that it benefits from the military protection, legislative guidance and international leverage of the United Kingdom without being restricted by them. The Island’s legislative authority is the States of Jersey (the equivalent of the Parliament of India), which comprises 53 elected representatives. The States appoint a council of ten ministers, who each oversee a ministerial department.

The Chief Minister oversees Jersey’s core industry: the finance sector. The Director of International Finance is Martin De Forest-Brown. The Finance Industry in Jersey is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, which is an independent body, entirely funded by licence holders. The Director General is John Harris. The interests of the Finance Industry both domestically and internationally are represented by Jersey Finance Limited, a non profit making organisation two-thirds funded by the States of Jersey’s Economic Development Department and one-third funded by its membership of financial service providers. The Chief Executive of Jersey Finance is Geoff Cook.

States of Jersey

The International Finance section of the government of the States of Jersey are committed to maintaining Jersey’s position as a leading well respected international finance centre. International Finance’s work includes the developing of international relations with India to facilitate increased co-operation for the benefit of both India and Jersey. It is wished to develop this relationship in order to assist India to benefit from the strengths of Jersey, its proximity to the UK and continental European markets, and the significant body of expertise developed by Jersey’s Finance Industry in a wide range of financial services.

The Jersey Financial Services Commission

The Jersey Financial Services Commission (the “Commission”) is responsible for the regulation, supervision and development of the financial services industry in the Island. The Commission is a statutory body corporate, set up under the Financial Services Commission (Jersey) Law 1998 (the “FSC Law”).

The FSC Law provides for a Board of Commissioners to be the governing body of the Commission. The FSC Law established the Commission as an independent body, fully responsible for its own regulatory decisions. The Commission is accountable for its overall performance to the States of Jersey through the Minister for Economic Development (the “Minister”).

The Commission is also responsible, pursuant to powers granted to it under the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991, for appointing a person to exercise certain statutory responsibilities as the Registrar of Companies. The Commission has appointed the Director General of the Commission as the Registrar.

The Jersey Financial Services Commission and India’ SEIB both sit on the same International Organisation of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) Standing Committee 5.

Jersey Finance

Jersey Finance represents the Island’s Finance Industry and promotes Jersey as an International Finance Centre of excellence.

The organisation’s primary objective is to communicate the many factors that make Jersey a leading International Finance Centre, including the depth and breadth of experience and expertise of its practitioners; its political, economic and fiscal stability; and its high level of regulation and security.