Guernsey’s financial services industry is in excellent health, the Chief Executive of its promotional agency has confirmed.
Speaking at Guernsey Finance’s annual Industry Update, Rupert Pleasant highlighted how the team has delivered on the organisation’s strategic aims following additional funding granted in 2021. It has deployed this additional resource in three main areas, research, PR and Business Development.
“We’ve utilised this additional funding throughout the agency to enhance our capabilities and to meet strategic goals,” he said.
“Guernsey’s financial services industry remains in excellent health and continues to be a safe, secure and stable place to do business,” he added. “The pipeline of potential new entrants to the island clearly demonstrates that Guernsey remains a strong and attractive jurisdiction, and we are truly seen as a safe pair of hands in these turbulent times.”
In his speech, he highlighted some of the agency’s measurable successes:A successful media partnership with the Financial Times, generating 1.7 million marketing impressions from the agency’s 2022 campaign across the Financial Times website – 6% above their target. Readers also spent 14% more time looking at this content than the Financial Times’ benchmark;Total reach to target audiences increased by 260% when compared with the previous year, and global reach saw a jump from 2.5 million in 2021 to 8.9 million in 2022;The total views of the agency’s videos exceeded the 1 million mark, representing an increase of 196% year on year;The phenomenal success of the agency’s two podcast channels saw a 251% increase in downloads in 2022. An important element of its growing success being the calibre of guests it has been able to attract.
In the first of two panel sessions, the heads of industry associations and Josephine Bush, Guernsey Finance’s Sustainable Finance Strategic Advisor, discussed the ways in which they work with the agency to achieve their specific aims. Collectively, the panel agreed that the minds of the many really do create solutions faster.
During the discussion Josephine commented: “The whole of the global financial system is in transition against a very complex geopolitical and macro-economic backdrop. Mindsets are also transitional, so we have to take a holistic approach to how we tackle these challenges and do things at the right time. There is huge market imperative to change, and responding to that presents enormous risk and also enormous opportunity. Finance is the key to change and financial innovation unlocks that risk as well as mitigating it.”
In keeping with this year’s theme of Business Development, attendees also heard from Guernsey Finance’s representatives from around the world. In this discussion, they each highlighted the trends they are experiencing in their specific areas, the opportunities available to Guernsey practitioners and the pipeline of new business to come out of their work in these regions. They agreed that no other jurisdiction can match Guernsey as a one stop shop for international wealth solutions.
Deputy Lyndon Trott, Chairman for Guernsey Finance, summarised the agency’s success in his closing remarks.
“As Guernsey’s opportunities and challenges change, and as we seek to promote our place in the global economy, it is critical that Guernsey Finance – your promotional body – remains relevant and effective. We are delivering this by utilising our funding in specific areas.”
Looking to the year ahead, he assured the audience they could be confident that: Guernsey’s value to the global economy is being promoted effectively right across the globe, from the UK to all of its critical markets; That everything possible is being done to provide the support Guernsey’s industry needs as it strives to capitalise on opportunities.
“There is nowhere better to do financial services business than in Guernsey. We are Guernsey, we are connected, and we are open for business,” he concluded.
