Guernsey pushes ‘safe haven’ image

Guernsey’s chief minister, Deputy Gavin St Pier, is promoting the island as a ‘safe haven’ for financial services following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union last week.

“In what seems like an increasingly unstable world we are, and I am confident will continue to be, seen for what we are; an oasis of stability – a safe haven,” St Pier said.

“We are a safe haven for financial services – in or out of the EU – and we are a safe haven physically for those who want to relocate here – or even just holiday here in peace and quiet.”

St Pier made the comments as part of an update to the States of Guernsey, the island’s parliament, yesterday on the progress Guernsey has made since last week’s Brexit vote, after which a proposition was successfully passed to enable the island’s policy and resources committee to negotiate with the UK government.

These negotiations will centre on protecting Guernsey’s interests in the UK in an exit agreement, protecting its constitutional relationship with the UK, and taking advantage of new trading relationships. They will also discuss replacing Protocol 3, under which Guernsey is considered “within” the EU for most of the purposes of the free movement of goods, but outside the EU for non-customs related fiscal matters and the free movement of people and services.

Together with the chief ministers of the Isle of Man and Jersey, St Pier has written to UK Prime Minister David Cameron to highlight what the islands are seeking in terms of trading relationships.

“We have much better connections with Whitehall, Westminster, Brussels and other jurisdictions in 2016 than we had in 1972 [the year of the accession of the UK to the EEC],” St Pier said. “We have invested in our relationships which will assist us in the coming weeks, months and years.”

In a statement, Guernsey Finance chief executive Dominic Wheatley said he welcomed the clarity St Pier had provided on the steps already taken.

“It is important that the island’s finance sector continues to monitor developments closely, while at the same time recognising that while Protocol 3 makes us part of the customs union and within the single market for the purposes of trade in goods, for most services, such as financial services, we were already treated as a third country and that position has not changed as a result of Brexit,” Wheatley said.

“Guernsey should be seen as an island of stability for financial services during this period of uncertainty. We already have an established third country relationship with the EU due to the fact that over a considerable number of years Guernsey has been able to demonstrate equivalence to EU standards and there is no reason to suggest that existing market access rights will be impacted.”