Jersey Finance plants flag in India, UAE

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Jersey Finance, a non-profit promoting Jersey as an international financial hub, is launching offices in Mumbai and Abu Dhabi to in part steer some of Asia’s booming funds industry to the island. 

“This is a natural extension of Jersey’s growing links with these regions, will complement our existing representative office in Hong Kong, and are a reflection of our commitment to growing our finance industry’s presence in international markets in the coming years.” said Jersey Finance’s chief executive Geoff Cook in a statement.

This is a natural extension of Jersey’s growing links with these regions

Geoff Cook

 

Last year 210 private equity funds were raised in Asia, representing a 25 percent surge from those recorded in 2009, according to the Centre for Asia Private Equity Research.

Ahead of the two office openings later this month, Jersey politicians, regulators and business executives will meet “with a range of government and regulatory officials and business leaders” in both India and the United Arab Emirates to emphasise Jersey as a financial centre, according to a statement.

This week Jersey will also sign a tax information exchange agreement with India, a country which is showing “persistent interest in Jersey’s funds expertise”, said Sean Costello, who will head up both of the new offices. In Abu Dhabi the delegate group will spotlight Jersey’s offering of Shariah-compliant asset management and fund structuring, the statement said.

The move follows Jersey’s recent courting of European business leaders. Last week at the SuperReturn International Conference in Berlin, Jersey Finance technical director Heather Bestwick reportedly spotlighted the island’s growing appeal for fund domiciliation as a result of new stringent regulations over alternative investments expected in continental Europe.  

Likewise Jersey Finance will hold its annual fund conference next month in London to further showcase the differences between onshore and offshore fund domiciliation.

For more on the growing appeal of running a fund in Jersey, see the 2010 “Fund Structures” supplement to the April edition of Private Equity International.