There is suspicion that pre-packs are tailor made for directors wishing to continue to trade with so-called phoenix companies which take over the business of the former company but none of the debts.

However, in these uncertain times of financial hardship for businesses pre-pack administrations have been praised for being a quick route in times of need to allow products and revenue to continue to be made. Lengthening and complicating the process could be very damaging to the popularity of pre-packs.

You can fiind out more about corporate insolvency on CorporateInsolvency.org.

For a further article on the Ministerial announcement go to the The Insolvency Service website located here.

Geoff Cook, Chief Executive of Jersey Finance, commented:

“This extra funding from the States of Jersey is vitally important and should be looked upon as an investment in Jersey’s future through revenue generation rather than short term expenditure.

“The financial support will enable Jersey Finance to open a third representative office in the Middle East and India. We have learnt from having an office in Hong Kong for the last year that it is essential to have a physical presence in order to build market awareness in our key emerging markets, which has already resulted in real tangible benefits for the Island and increased business flows.

“We must keep modernising and evolving to attract new business from emerging markets, as there is currently very low growth from our traditional markets such as the UK and Europe, in order to protect tax receipts. It is also essential that we continually seek to increase revenue for Jersey’s economy and employment in the Island.

“I would finally like to thank all of those States Members who voted to support Jersey Finance and also to everyone that added to the debate.”

Ends.

For further information, please contact Mike Sunier or Adam Riddell, Crystal Public Relations, on tel. +44 (0) 1534 639505 or e-mail mike@crystalpr.co.uk or adam@crystalpr.co.uk

The statistics collated and prepared by the Jersey Financial Services Commission for the three month period ending June 30, 2010 also show that funds under administration decreased by 2.5% to £175.9 billion, though the number of unregulated funds has continued to rise compared to the first quarter. Company formations were also nearly 10% higher than the same period in 2009. The headline figures from the statistics are as follows:

·        Banking deposits decreased by £10.7bn (6%) during the second quarter of 2010 from £177.6bn to £166.9bn.

·        The Net Asset Value of funds under administration decreased by £4.6bn (2.5%) from £180.5bn to £175.9bn during the second quarter of 2010. The total number of funds decreased by 33 from 1,320 to 1,287. The total number of unregulated funds increased by 16 during the second quarter of 2010.

·        The value of funds under investment management decreased by £0.9bn (4%) compared to the previous quarter from £21.1bn to £20.2bn.

·        Company formations were up 9.9% compared to the second quarter of 2009. The total number of live companies on the register increased by 191 during the second quarter of 2010.

Geoff Cook, Chief Executive of Jersey Finance, believes that, with full economic recovery likely to take some time, Jersey was likely to experience further peaks and troughs in the financial statistics over the coming months. He commented:

‘The first quarter of 2010 showed the first signs of economic recovery, however, the second quarter, dominated by global austerity measures, saw a sharp fall in the performance of important financial markets indices. The FTSE100 was down by 13.43%, the FT World Index £ decreased by 12.03%, the MSCI World $ lost 13.26% and the S&P500$ index was down by 11.86%.

It is against this background of difficult economic conditions that we need to interpret the latest statistics. Interest rates remained at low levels this quarter and much of the fall in banking deposits can be attributed to currency fluctuations and inter group balance sheet management as opposed to underlying customer activity. The net asset value of funds under administration in Jersey fell by 2.5% and the funds under investment management were down by 4% but have nevertheless outperformed the major market indices.

Such challenging business conditions emphasise the vital need to vigorously promote and market Jersey around the world in order to ensure that we capture new business flows. In this respect, provided we can sustain our promotional efforts, we expect to see increasing business volumes from emerging markets, particularly from India, China and Russia which will provide further support to the business flows derived from more traditional markets.’

Ends.

For further information, please contact Mike Sunier or Adam Riddell, Crystal Public Relations, on tel. +44 (0) 1534 639505 or e-mail mike@crystalpr.co.uk oradam@crystalpr.co.uk

Further to the recent States of Jersey consultation papers on Personal Tax and Government Spending Cuts, Jersey Finance surveyed employees working in the finance industry to gain their views on the Government’s proposals.

Almost 1,200 respondents completed the survey between the 16 and 23 August and the results will be sent to Government prior to the end of their consultation period on 30 August. The key findings were as follows:

· Over 60% of respondents do not think that the proposed cuts or savings go far enough

· Only 12.1% of respondents believed that the split between spending cuts and personal tax increases should be 50:50, which is currently proposed by the Council of Ministers. Nearly 75% thought the split should be at least 70:30 cuts to personal taxes increases

· Of the proposed personal tax increases, the taxes most cited and preferred by respondents were quite equally divided, between GST (28%), social security (23%) and income tax (29%). 15% indicated that none of the personal tax increase proposals suggested were preferred.

Heather Bestwick, Technical Director of Jersey Finance, commented:

“The results indicate that employees working in the finance industry are overwhelmingly of the opinion that Government spending must be reduced before personal tax increases can be considered. Raising taxes, particularly personal tax, could adversely affect Jersey’s competitive position in attracting international investment and business to the Island. This fact has already created negative coverage for Jersey in the national media regarding the possible increases to personal income tax.”

Ends.

For further information, please contact:

Heather Bestwick, Technical Director, Jersey Finance Limited, tel. +44 (0) 1534 836000 or e-mail heather.bestwick@jerseyfinance.je

Or

Adam Riddell at Crystal Public Relations on tel. +44 (0) 1534 639505 or e-mail adam@crystalpr.co.uk

Further to the recent States of Jersey consultation paper on Business Tax, Jersey Finance surveyed its member firms to gain their views on the Government’s business tax regime proposals.

In total, the heads of 49 businesses completed the survey between 16th and 23rd August 2010 and the full results will be sent to Government before the end of their consultation period. The key findings were as follows:

· 69% of the respondents indicated that there should be no change to the “0/10” taxation regime or that it should remain but with alterations to it

· 39% of respondents believed that moving from the “0/10” taxation regime would have a negative effect on their company

· 65% of respondents indicated that a change to the “0/10” taxation regime would have an adverse effect on Jersey’s status as an International Finance Centre

Heather Bestwick, Technical Director of Jersey Finance, commented:

“These results provide a vital snap-shot of the views of Jersey’s finance industry and re-enforce the need to think carefully before any alternatives to “0/10” are considered, to ensure that any move does not effect Jersey’s finance industry negatively.”

Ends.

For further information, please contact:

Heather Bestwick, Technical Director, Jersey Finance Limited, on tel. +44 (0) 1534 836000 or e-mail heather.bestwick@jerseyfinance.je

Or

Adam Riddell, Crystal Public Relations, on tel. +44 (0) 1534 639505 or e-mail adam@crystalpr.co.uk

The purpose of such agreements is to provide for exchange of information which is of a substantive nature. Experience to date has involved disclosure in a number of cases where a robust proving process is satisfied before information is released to home tax authorities. The principal benefits attached to such agreements focus on reciprocal recognition from countries in respect of Jersey and its standing in the international community.

The information exchanged under the TIEA in respect of criminal and civil tax matters is exchanged between the competent authorities of both parties to the agreement where it is relevant to the assessment and collection of tax.

The industry is fully supportive of the series of TIEAs signed by the Jersey authorities which are set to continue. The agreements emphasize Jersey’s commitment to meeting international tax standards of transparency and information exchange and they demonstrate Jersey’s willingness to participate in global initiatives designed to strengthen the financial services system and combat fiscal crime.

Jersey’s finance industry has a long standing commercial relationship with South Africa and many of the leading financial services organizations in South Africa have an office presence in Jersey. This agreement would therefore reinforce an already solid relationship that the Industry in Jersey enjoys in South Africa for corporate governance and probity and the signing would only strengthen the commercial ties further.

(Ends)

You really can have the best of both worlds – an offshore community, unique landscapes and way of life, plus the benefits that Londoners or New Yorkers have – the choice and value made available through sourcing their personal finance products online.

Credit cards are a perfect example. Aside from your internet connection, searching online for credit card deals costs nothing. And, with so many cafés and bars offering free WiFi for customers, you can use the internet for free (ok, so you’ll have to purchase a coffee or similar, but that’s a small sacrifice to make!). What’s so significant about that is that not only are you saving money, by reducing the overheads of the credit card provider, they’ll thank you for it with competitive deals that you simply couldn’t find on the real high street.

Geography is no hindrance when it comes to personal finance, be it bank account, loan or credit card deals. So yes, you can have your cake with that coffee too, and eat it.

While finding a mortgage in Jersey one can explore online channels can also be exploited by one and all as they try to gain from such solutions. Debtors can take stalk of the existing interest rates and payment terms and depending upon their preferences and overall competitiveness of the mortgage solution, make independent choices. One of the much appreciated aspects about finding a mortgage in Jersey is its seamless ability to offer competitive mortgage solutions to the debtors. A debtor can get to exercise various solutions based on the available options such as mortgage refinancing. In the process any given debtor would end up paying a lot lesser than what they had been paying for their current mortgage. At the time of finding a mortgage in Jersey one should ask the service provider to showcase their service portfolios and showcase it to a debtor if they can provide seamless mortgage solution as per the given risk factors. The smarter base of financial solutions can provide smarter business propositions to one and all in just about no time at all. In fact it is imperative to benefit from a competitive mortgage solution if the liquidity crunch is being realized by the debtor. So what are you waiting for? Get going and enable a best in class mortgage solution on your financial portfolio today on the go in a streamlined manner!

Zhaoan Li, Jersey Finance’s Head of Greater China Business Development, arranged the visit. She commented:

“Jersey has made great strides in successfully building its reputation in China over the past few years and this latest visit by key business representatives from Tianjin further reinforces this. Tianjin is one of the fastest growing finance centres in China, and in recent years the private equity fund sector has been developing very fast. The delegates have been keen to learn how they can work with Jersey to foster a strong business relationship especially in the ship and aircraft leasing and financing area which has seen a phenomenal development since 2009The delegates were impressed with what Jersey has to offer as a diverse and sophisticated finance centre.”

To read more you view the press release at the Jersey Finance website.

The results of the Awards, which are recognised as a key event in the field of international finance, were announced on Tuesday 15th June. Consisting of a range of categories, they feature leading financial organisations and providers based in the UK and international financial centres including Guernsey, Isle of Man, Dublin and Luxembourg, as well as Jersey.

The International Fund and Product awards have been held annually for 11 years and are judged by a panel of eight senior investment experts and advisers in the UK. The judges’ decision to select Jersey for this Award was based on the quality of its funds offering as well as its reputation on the international scene and its robust legislative and regulatory framework.

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