A delegation of officials and practitioners from Guernsey has been raising the profile of the Island's finance sector in Mumbai, India.
Peter Niven, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance – the promotional agency for the Island's finance industry, was joined by Jonathan Hooley, the former senior tax partner at KPMG in the Channel Islands, as well as Stuart Platt-Ransom, Group Managing Director of Legis Group and John Morris, Director of Trust and Corporate at Legis Group.
At the start of last week Mr Niven accompanied Mr Platt-Ransom and Mr Morris for a series of meetings with lawyers and accountants in Mumbai. Then Mr Niven and Mr Platt-Ransom attended the Asia Venture Capital Journal (AVCJ) conference, which is an event where Guernsey Finance had a presence last year, to reinforce the Island's credentials as a leading domicile for private equity funds.
Mr Morris was joined by Mr Hooley in representing Guernsey at the International Taxation conference, which was also held in Mumbai. Mr Hooley gave a presentation where he highlighted the potential benefits for Indians and Non-Resident Indians to use Guernsey for both corporate and private wealth management structuring. In particular, Mr Hooley emphasised that the Island is a well regulated, cooperative and transparent international finance centre.
"Once again we were very well received," said Mr Niven.
"Each time we visit India there is increasing awareness of Guernsey as a leading international finance centre. Indeed, this is illustrated by the fact that during the last 18 months Guernsey has been the domicile of choice for Indian-related entities, particularly funds, which are listing on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM). This has not gone unnoticed and now we need to make sure that we continue to disseminate these sorts of messages to the Indian introducer market so that we can build up these business flows in the coming years.
"Our plan is to continue pushing messages to the key decision makers in Delhi and Mumbai through Guernsey Finance attendance at conferences and events and being supported by the industry practitioners making their own visits to India. Certainly, it is important that we maintain a strong presence in this growing and increasingly important centre at a time when business flows from markets closer to home are under pressure."
Guernsey's first official delegation to India, led by Carla McNulty Bauer, Minister for the Commerce and Employment Department, visited Delhi and Mumbai in October 2010. Subsequently, Guernsey Finance has returned to promote the Island's finance industry by attending conferences and events in Mumbai.
For more information about Guernsey's finance industry please visit www.guernseyfinance.com.
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