An audience of almost 300 fund professionals heard that Jersey is well placed to meet stringent international regulations and grow its funds business at a major conference held in London last week, organised by Jersey Finance.

Two-thirds of delegates attending Jersey Finance’s London Funds Conference, held at the British Museum last week (18 April), were UK-based, and they heard from a heavyweight line-up of finance and legal professionals who considered the future of the international funds industry and explored how market trends might impact International Finance Centres.

Two keynote presentations opened and closed the event, with David Smith, Economics Editor at The Sunday Times, offering his insights into the economic crisis and Jersey’s Treasury and Resources Minister Senator Philip Ozouf underscoring the States of Jersey’s commitment to supporting the future growth of Jersey’s funds industry. Two panel sessions also explored the key issues and opportunities facing the industry, including the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. The event was moderated by Anthony Hilton, City Editor of the Evening Standard.

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Geoff Cook, commented:

“That such a significant proportion of those attending our flagship London funds conference were based in the UK is real evidence of just how attractive Jersey’s funds offering continues to be to the London market. The feedback we have had about the event, particularly from the London-based funds lawyers, managers and advisors, has been extremely positive. They were incredibly impressed with what independent industry experts had to say about Jersey’s funds industry.

“Those attending were particularly pleased to receive an update on Jersey’s commitment to working with AIFMD, learn more about Jersey’s recently launched Private Placement Fund regime, and hear that fund managers are increasingly considering relocating to Jersey. Having Treasury and Resources Minister Senator Philip Ozouf offer his governmental level support to the funds industry was also extremely well received by delegates.”

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Nigel Strachan, Chairman of the Jersey Funds Association and who participated in the second panel discussion at the conference, added:

“Overall, the message taken home by delegates was that the outlook for Jersey’s funds industry is positive.  With competition increasing significantly in the international funds arena, this event served Jersey well in terms of provoking debate and opening up new channels of discussion with key intermediaries in London, which remains a key market for Jersey. It is vital that we maintain momentum and continue with our efforts to promote a key pillar of our finance industry through events like this."