For more than two decades, Jersey has earned a reputation amongst African investors as a jurisdiction of choice for private wealth management, working extensively with high net worth families to internationalise their wealth and support cross-border investment, wealth structuring and succession planning.

Its forward-thinking approach, comprehensive legal and regulatory framework and its ability to offer certainty, stability and substance have given it the international pedigree to appeal to investors across the continent.

Now, those same ingredients are deepening Jersey’s relationship with Africa and helping it to diversify the range of services it can provide both to African investors and investors looking to invest into Africa too.

With the IMF predicting that economic growth in Africa overall will accelerate from 3.4 per cent last year to 4.1 per cent by 2023, it’s clear that the continent’s potential is significant.

Powered by this economic growth and supported by digital innovation – mobile adoption in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, is expected to reach 52 per cent of the population by 2025, up from 25 per cent at the start of this decade – a new dynamic class of African investors is emerging and they are taking an increasingly sophisticated and global view.

As a result, Jersey is seeing an uptick in demand for supporting outbound investment into new markets and sectors such as philanthropy, impact investing and alternative assets.

In addition, Jersey’s fund structuring and market access capabilities are enabling fund managers in Africa to attract investment from European institutional investors, whilst we are also seeing a growing number of Jersey firms working with African businesses to provide robust access to pools of capital in key investor markets, such as London.

At the same time, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) remains vital to Africa’s future. A study published in 2014 by Jersey Finance found that over the next 30 years Africa would need to invest $85 trillion in its infrastructure to support its growing population, and that in order to meet that demand it would need to attract in excess of $6 trillion of FDI.

IFCs, including Jersey, have the potential to play a vital role in sourcing overseas capital securely and efficiently to ensure Africa can achieve its future aspirations.

What has become abundantly clear is that Africa’s ambition needs to be matched by IFCs that can demonstrate a quality service, sophisticated expertise, a commitment to the highest standards of governance and regulation, leading digital capabilities and global reach – and Jersey is ticking the boxes.

As Africa evolves, Jersey has the right expertise and regulatory framework to act as an investment gateway for African institutional and private investors to the UK, European and global markets, whilst working to support high-quality inbound FDI too.

It’s all part of an evolving relationship and, as a jurisdiction, we are proud to support Africa’s growing economy by providing a clear pathway to a prosperous future.

 

This article originally featured on Banker Africa’s website.