Amid the emerging coronavirus crisis, Businesslife spoke to Jersey Finance CEO Joe Moynihan and Guernsey Finance CEO Dominic Wheatley about how businesses in the Channel Islands are responding – and why the strength and structure of the islands’ financial sector mean they are well placed to return to normal as quickly as possible
The enormity of the coronavirus pandemic cannot be underestimated. As Dominic Wheatley, CEO of Guernsey Finance, puts it: “At the time of writing, one-third of the world’s population is in lockdown. That’s something like two billion people. This is absolutely unprecedented.
“The sheer scale of it, and the impact it’s having on the human population, is extraordinary. It is, without a doubt, the single biggest human event of my lifetime.”
The impact of that event on the Channel Islands has been clear. With businesses closed down, small- and medium-sized businesses under threat of collapse, people confined to their homes and global markets shifting erratically – as well as the threat to human life – the islands, like many parts of the world, have been thrust into uncertainty and difficulty.
Collaborative spirit
In the face of those difficulties, Joe Moynihan (pictured left), CEO of Jersey Finance, believes that people across the islands have responded with a genuine sense of togetherness.
“This is completely unprecedented, and it affects everybody,” he says. “But we have seen a fantastic community spirit right across the board. We have seen an incredible response to the government call for volunteers to help out in the voluntary sector and to support vulnerable people.
"And we have seen the banks here working very closely with the government to implement the financial help and support put forward by the government.
“The banks have also been actively encouraging customers to come and talk to them – about things like mortgage holidays and loans for small businesses.
“Furthermore, as this crisis was emerging, we wrote to the member firms of Jersey Finance and received a fantastic response from professionals in the industry offering pro bono support to small and medium-sized Jersey businesses – offering to help them with HR issues, with cashflow management and other admin support. So, we’ve seen a very swift and prompt response, and fantastic community spirit, in these very difficult times.”
That view is echoed by Wheatley (pictured below). “In both the social environment and the business environment, this is a community event and we are facing it as a community,” he says. “We have a seen a huge bunker mentality.
"People have responded enthusiastically and together – and people have been trying to get on with business as best as possible. That’s very important, because sustaining our economy – both locally and internationally – is essential to our future success.”
Financial sector impact
While people and businesses across the Channel Islands have clearly pulled together, Wheatley says there can be no doubt this is an unprecedented challenge for the financial sector.
“It is absolutely a massive test for the Channel Islands,” he says. “There have been some transactions going ahead – some businesses have been keen to get things done quickly in light of the fast-moving events – but a lot of business has also been cancelled or postponed.
“That is of course creating challenges across many areas and sectors. But what’s important is that we retain our overall infrastructure, conduct the business that’s available to us and deal as sympathetically as we can with those seriously impacted – such as suppliers and smaller businesses – so we can help them trade through this.
“At some point, we will come through this pandemic and Covid-19 will either become one of those diseases we live alongside or it will disappear altogether.
“Either way, there will be a return to some semblance of normality. That may not be the same normality – it may well be different – but sustaining as best we can our economic infrastructure and economic activity is vastly important, so that we can respond as best we can when that time comes. We all want to come out of this as soon as possible and to return to being a successful economy and community.”
Moynihan agrees, and adds that both the structure and strength of the Channel Islands mean they will quickly return to buoyant times once the pandemic has passed.
“There is no doubt that we have the strength in depth of expertise here in the Channel Islands to bounce back from this,” he says.
“We don’t yet know exactly what the world will look like when we come out of all of this. But we have proven over the years that the Channel Islands have the ability to adapt to a change of circumstances. And, in this particular case, we will of course be responding along with the whole world rather than on our own.
“Coming out of all of this, I expect Jersey Finance and the market itself to continue the great work we have been doing to show the world that we are an international finance centre of choice and that we are open for business.
“Why should we be confident we should recover? We should be confident for all the same reasons we were confident in our operations before this crisis – because of the quality of the jurisdiction, the quality of the infrastructure and the quality of the people. Those things won’t change.”