Funds
The largest annual pan-Channel Island funds event brought together high-calibre speakers and senior delegates to hear about the most pressing issues in Guernsey and Jersey’s funds industries
Channel Islands Funds Forum:
A Sharper Focus AS UNCERTAINTY ABOUNDS in the political sphere, the Channel Islands’ funds industries keep growing, but is this success built on past strengths or is the sector ready to face the challenges that lie ahead? These and many more searching questions put funds in Guernsey and Jersey in sharper focus at BL’s Channel Islands Funds Forum 2017. Held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in St Helier on 27 September, the Forum – produced in partnership with PwC – was attended by 150 leading members of the Channel Islands’ funds industries. The event was sponsored by Appleby, JTC Fund Services and Optimus Group, and supported by Altair, Puritas and Rossborough Professional Risks. This year, the Forum was the biggest ever, both in terms of delegate numbers and because it featured a pre-conference seminar from Preqin, data and intelligence providers to the alternative assets industry. Amy Bensted, Head of Hedge Funds, and Tom Carr, Head of Real Assets Products at Preqin, opened the day by looking at how the alternative assets industry has evolved over the years. In his round-up of the past 12 months, Carr examined institutional investors’ portfolios. “It’s a fast moving industry, with change happening all the time,” he said. “In recent years, institutional
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FUNDS: THE STORY SO FAR Following a short break, Nick Kirby, Editor-in-Chief of BL magazine, welcomed delegates to the main conference before introducing the day’s first panel event, a look at the ‘story so far’, rounding up the past 12 months in the Channel Islands’ funds sectors. Moderated by Ben Robins, Partner at Mourant Ozannes, the panel began their look back over the year by discussing changes to the islands’ regulatory regimes. Emma Bailey, Director of Investment Supervision and Policy Division at the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, highlighted the introduction of Guernsey’s new manager-led regime. “The regime was introduced in May 2016 and allows the licensing of a general partnership in one day, with no regulation on the fund, all of it being at manager level.” From a Jersey perspective, Mike Jones, Director of Policy at the Jersey Financial
Services Commission, pointed to the publication of the AML handbook and Jersey Private Placement Funds as examples of beneficial work that’s been completed in the past year or so. Fiona Le Poidevin, CEO of The International Stock Exchange Group (TISE), explained that new Chapter 7 rules “mean we can now cater for pretty much any investment vehicle structure”. Highlighting TISE’s success, she said that it had “seen a 45 per cent increase in new securities listing, a lot of which has come from private equity”. This good news was slightly tempered by discussion of Luxembourg, a theme that resurfaced throughout the day. “Luxembourg is a threat, but has a lot of headwinds, including tax harmonisation,” said Michael Johnson, Head of Fund Services at Intertrust. “A lot of their products are fairly new and so aren’t tried and tested.” Robins moved the discussion on to fintech and crypto funds. All the panellists agreed that the islands have moved quickly to explore these areas – but, beyond investing, Fiona Le Poidevin warned about the effects they could have on the way the sector works. “There’s a lot more going on than just blockchain, and we have to stay on top of it all,” she said. “I don’t think people have grasped how fintech will change the way the industry works here in the islands.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE The conference moved from regulatory regimes to a look at the ‘Global Political Landscape and its Impact on Funds’. Light-hearted in tone but serious in substance, this was a talk in which Mark Boleat, Deputy Chairman, Policy and
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Words: Kirsten Morel Pictures: Glen Perotte
investors have moved into a wider range of alternative asset classes.” The big story of 2016 was that fundraising levels had returned to the peaks seen in 2008, and this year is already looking strong, but according to Carr “capital is becoming concentrated among fewer funds and managers”. Although there has been a reversal of the net outflows of 2015/16 to inflows of $25bn this year, the medium-term outlook remains mixed and there are warnings for hedge funds. “An increasing number of investors are planning to reduce their exposure to hedge funds,” said Bensted. “Over a three-year time frame, the largest proportion of investors, 30 per cent, plan to reduce this exposure.”