A delegation from Guernsey has been raising the profile of the Island's finance industry in Singapore.
The delegation was led by Carla McNulty Bauer, Minister for the Commerce and Employment Department within the Guernsey Government.
The team accompanying her included Jarrod Cowley-Grimmond, Director of the Finance Sector Development Unit of the Guernsey Government, Alan Bougourd, Registrar at the Guernsey Registry, Peter Niven, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance – the promotional agency for the Island's finance industry, as well as his deputy, Fiona Le Poidevin.
Their itinerary comprised meetings with the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and leading business professionals as well as exhibiting as one of the key sponsors at the trade conference STEP Asia.
Mr Niven said: "We are very pleased with the visit to Singapore. During the last few years we have been very successful in raising the profile of Guernsey in the region generally but this was a very good chance to specifically target the financial services industry in Singapore. It is becoming an increasingly important centre of private and corporate wealth and as such, there are significant opportunities for Guernsey to provide complementary products and services.
"It was excellent that we were able to combine attendance at the STEP Asia conference with a series of meetings with key individuals from the Singapore infrastructure. In particular, we want to build on the fact that earlier this year we received approval for Guernsey companies to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by seeing if something similar can be achieved in Singapore.
"Our team for the STEP Asia conference was swelled by a significant number of Guernsey practitioners so that in total there was around two dozen representatives of the Island's fiduciary sector at the event. The conference provided the platform for us to meet with a large number of the region's intermediaries, such as lawyers and accountants, who are likely to be influential in decision making process for introducing business to particular jurisdictions.
"During our time in Singapore we were very well received, there have been some very positive responses to our messages and there is much follow up work to put through the pipeline. We always said that attracting business from the Far East would be a long term vision but the fact that increasing numbers of local firms are now establishing offices in centres such as Singapore or making visits to the region means that Guernsey is becoming increasingly recognised particularly as a centre of excellence for private wealth management and corporate investment work."
The delegation visited Singapore between Monday 31st October and Friday 4th November before moving on to Hong Kong.
For more information about Guernsey's finance industry please visit www.guernseyfinance.com.
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