Survey supports optimism in Jersey’s finance industry

Jersey Finance, www.jerseyfinance.je, has welcomed the conclusions of the Survey of Financial Institutions 2007, which confirm the generally positive picture of the island's finance industry.

Geoff Cook, the organisation's chief executive, said: 'Real term growth of 9% across Jersey's financial services sector for 2007 is an excellent result. The real term growth of 21% that was recorded in 2006 was truly exceptional, so it is particularly pleasing that the Finance Industry in Jersey has been able to maintain impressive growth and achieve a third consecutive annual rise in total profit in 2007.

'Whilst the banking sector is driving the overall trend, the findings also highlight that this dynamic is being supported by introduced business generated by the trust and company administration, legal and accountancy sectors, which are displaying continued steady growth. After a sharp increase in profits of 35% in 2006, fund management is also reporting total profits for 2007 above the levels recorded between 1998 and 2005.
"I think it is also worth noting that there is a renewed determination by financial institutions in the island to diversify their services in order to succeed in increasingly competitive international markets. Moreover, firms are confident about their profits for this year, with more than three quarters of firms anticipating a rise in profits in 2008. These expectations are a good benchmark, with 77% of firms correctly forecasting the direction of movement of their profits last year. This is clearly excellent news, given the current uncertainties in global financial markets.'

He added that the figures also provide a noteworthy commentary on the industry's contribution to the island's economy:
'It is also pleasing to see that more than three quarters of the growth in employment in the finance industry was from local people, including 230 new recruits coming directly from schools or universities.

'In addition, of the finance industry's total expenditure on goods and services of £568 million, more than half was spent in Jersey, four fifths of it on non-finance sector firms. This is an aspect of the finance industry's contribution to the island's economy that is perhaps not always so obvious.'

An in-depth interview with Geoff Cook can be found in the February issue of the AP Group magazine - see the link on our homepage.