Barely a week goes by without someone referring to the ‘relentless pace of change’, ‘extreme market volatility’ or ‘global uncertainty’. These are all phrases that have entered the daily financial, legal, professional services and corporate lexicon to the extent that they have almost become cliches of the environment we all now operate in.

On the geopolitical front, in recent weeks we’ve certainly seen considerable instability – from a shock result for Modi in India, to far right parties chipping away at the more traditional powers in the EU , prompting France’s Macron to call for snap legislative elections.

As the new government addresses the challenges facing the UK and as US political juggernaut powers through later this year, geopolitical change remains very much in the air, maintaining this narrative of unrelenting change.

But it’s not just in politics. We’re seeing this play out in our everyday lives too. Technology is changing everything, and at seemingly increasing velocity. AI has been around for decades, for example – but since some major generative AI tools hit the mainstream in late 2022, AI tools have, it seems, infiltrated almost everything we do.

Likewise, we are facing ticking timebombs in terms of our natural environment and climate emergency, with regional, national and supranational commitments being made around carbon emissions, with deadlines that are creeping closer and closer, becoming more and more urgent.

Change

Change, of course, is a given. Nothing stays constant. And change can be good.
But it can also be challenging.

Which is why we decided to theme our flagship private wealth conference in London this year around the concept of what lies ‘beyond the permacrisis’ – a term that captures the broad, wide-ranging drivers of a complex series of change-inducing crises, and how we can, collectively, seek to navigate our way through the landscape – a landscape where it seems there is a constant sense of urgency, uncertainty and anxiety.

Our hope is that our conference will highlight just how valuable a role IFCs like Jersey play in providing an environment that can help mitigate uncertainty and provide a stable platform for families, businesses, asset managers and investors.

Stability has long been one of our core strengths – but we shouldn’t take for granted how important that stability is. As we talk to our contacts around the world, that stable, familiar, no-change environment is always one of the first things investors and gatekeepers say they like about Jersey.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we don’t change as an IFC ourselves. In fact, innovation, in key areas like sustainable finance or fintech, are vital to our proposition. It is targeted, strategic innovation that complements our stable platform; an ability to be agile and ‘adjust our sails’ when we need to.

This thinking was something that came out strongly at our ‘Ready’ events held earlier this year, which brought together young starters, future leaders and CEOs from across the industry to discuss how prepared Jersey is to remain a leading IFC in the years ahead.

Across the board, attendees at those events felt that Jersey’s reputation for reliability and certainty – particularly when it comes to tax, politics and regulation – was fundamental to our success. But equally, they were clear about the need to be able to ready ourselves for the opportunities and challenges on the horizon, particularly around skills and technology.

As an example, our Trusts Law is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year – it is a law that has stood the test of time and that has been subject to minimal amendments. A number of small enhancements are anticipated to be made to the law this year, but it is rarely touched – and as a result, more than £1 trillion global private wealth is managed through Jersey vehicles and our trust law has become the blueprint for trust legislation in numerous jurisdictions who are keen to copy Jersey’s success.

A valuable service

Why is this so important?

Looking forward, this message of stability will continue to be critical for Jersey to remain a relevant and attractive IFC. More than ever, our customers are global – our Global Value Chains work is testament to that, evidencing that the work done here supports around £170 billion of global economic output. And we can do that because we intermediate some £1.4 trillion of global capital and because we are a safe place for facilitating high quality cross-border investment.

If it wasn’t for our stable platform, that would not be the case.

In a world where change is assumed, where markets jump from challenge to opportunity, where investors need to navigate a constantly shifting landscape of compliance and reporting requirements, where political short-term policies trump long-term visions, and where global mobility is increasingly the norm, stability and certainty will be a premium. IFCs like Jersey, that offer a stable proposition, fulfil a valuable service in the global economy.

Our challenge is to balance that stability with targeted innovation and as a jurisdiction we are under no illusions about the importance of communicating that to stakeholders in the current environment.