The Guernsey Financial Services Commission has published its 2020 annual report and financial statements.
Director General William Mason noted: “Last year, in common with the rest of the world, the bailiwick had to deal with the effects of the global pandemic. During that period, the Commission faced a number of additional challenges, as did our licensees.
"I was therefore particularly pleased that, despite this, thanks to the hard work and dedication of our staff, we managed to undertake a significant amount of policy work in addition to developing a new approach to the day job of supervising more than 2,000 financial services entities whose offices were closed and their staff working from home.
"In the circumstances, we also turned in a pretty reasonable financial performance, given the challenges and constraints with which we had to contend.”
Policy focus
According to the Commission, much of its key policy work last year was designed to assist industry, including the introduction of a fast-track application regime for managers of overseas collective investment schemes.
In addition, a process was introduced for the formation of new cells within an insurance protected cell company to enable trusted insurance providers to form cells more quickly to meet client demand in a flexible fashion.
During 2020, the Commission became the first regulator in the world to offer an enhanced capital regime for insurers investing in good quality green assets, which should help to underpin the bailiwick’s ‘green’ credentials.
It also consulted on a significant piece of deregulation to repeal the non-Guernsey Fund Scheme Rules, lightening the bureaucratic burden on fund administrators.
Additionally, a separate consultation paper was released, which proposed two improvements to the Private Investment Fund regime to enhance the PIF offering for professional investors, while also creating a regulated family office investment vehicle. Both of these policy initiatives have recently been implemented.
New legislation
On the legislative front, the revised regulatory laws continued to be progressed in 2020 and are now likely to be enacted towards the end of 2021.
Additionally, new credit and finance proposals, which the Commission had been developing in conjunction with the States, were passed at the beginning of 2021.
Once enacted, these will improve consumer protection for vulnerable borrowers and provide a 'fit for purpose' regulatory regime for new fintech businesses. This should also provide an incentive for such businesses to establish themselves in the bailiwick.
Commission Chairman Cees Schrauwers (pictured), said: “The overriding conclusion is that the bailiwick’s financial services industry again proved its resilience and adaptability in the face of a crisis.
"For our part, the Commission took the early opportunity at the onset of the pandemic to introduce some temporary measures to assist firms while their staff were getting to grips with working from home.
"At the same time, we adapted our supervisory approach to enable us to focus at a macro level on the financial stability of the industry and hence the bailiwick as a whole.
"Our overall assessment is that the industry came through the crisis in good shape and is well placed to deal with future challenges.”