52 Finance Monthly. Bank i ng & F i nanc i a l Se r v i ce s in Guernsey? The decision was an easy one. After spending the last 12 years living on the island, it’s a pleasant and safe place to live and it has excellent links to both the United Kingdom and Europe, giving us easy access to the rest of the world. From a business perspective, for a group which specialises predominantly in international pensions, Guernsey is the obvious choice. The island has a long-standing and excellent reputation internationally for its regulation, stability and expertise in financial services, especially pensions. As a jurisdiction, Guernsey is committed to maintaining its international and domestic reputation as a leading centre of substance for financial services. As such, it is whitelisted by the OECD and the EU. It meets the tax transparency requirements of the OECD and the US and is branded as a cooperative jurisdiction by the OECD. The island’s pension legislation dates back to 1975, giving it almost 50 years of pension experience. Its law is well established and understood, and there are many licensed and regulated firms involved in international pensions in Guernsey with more than 90 offering either trustee, administration or both services. Add to this a wide range of experienced investment, banking, actuarial andaccounting firms providing support, and this gives consumers a wide variety of choice. It also leads to a competitive market and the probable cause for the island being the pioneer of many innovative pension solutions for consumers. Guernsey is a very well-regulated jurisdiction and consumers of its pension products can enjoy regulation of the pension providers and also regulation at scheme level. In addition, consumers have access to an impartial ombudsman to resolve complaints. Guernsey also prides itself on being a member of the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS). Guernsey is committed to promoting and facilitating sustainable finance and was one of the first international finance centres to create the green funds regime. It is also signed up to the UN charter on sustainable finance. As a pension industry, we are currently taking this commitment from the jurisdiction and developing an ESG code for pension providers that will help to assist themwhen considering climate change and other sustainability issues. Consumers have a choice in Guernsey of how they have their retirement plans structured. This is because Guernsey is one of a few jurisdictions that can offer pension arrangements through the traditional trustbased solution and through a contract pension solution. The domestic pension legislation enables providers of both corporate and personal pensions to use contract law or trust law when establishing local or international arrangements. This is increasingly an important factor for the consumer, given that Guernsey operates in the international space. Civil law jurisdictions can often get confused by pensions written under trust, which can have unforeseen consequences for members. This is easily avoided
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