Jersey Finance formally launched its new presence in Singapore and its refreshed South-East Asia market outreach strategy at a special reception on 28th March.
Hosted at Eden House, the residence of the British High Commissioner to Singapore Her Excellency Kara Owen CMG, Her Excellency personally opened the reception, and was joined in giving a welcome address by the Government of Jersey's assistant chief minister with responsibility for financial services, Deputy Elaine Millar, and Jersey Finance CEO, Joe Moynihan.
The reception was attended by around 100 guests including Government of Jersey officials, the Director General of the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC), Jill Britton, as well as local and visiting industry professionals. The British Chamber of Commerce supported the event.
The official launch follows on from Jersey Finance's appointment at the end of last year of Yiow Chong Tan as business development director in Singapore. With extensive business and corporate finance experience in the Asian markets, Yiow will play a key role in delivering Jersey Finance's new South-East Asia strategy, working closely with Shanghai-based Maria McDermott, business development consultant at Jersey Finance.
Having built a strong reputation within the Greater China region since 2005, and having opened an office in Hong Kong in 2009, Jersey Finance has cited Singapore as a key complementary hub that can help further extend the global reach of Jersey's financial services industry and bring its corporate, private wealth and alternative funds proposition to key growth markets across the South-East Asia region.
During the visit to Singapore, Joe Moynihan and Deputy Millar also joined a roundtable event for Jersey and Singaporean firms focusing on the growing relationships between Jersey's financial services industry, Singapore and the wider South-East Asia region.
Joe Moynihan, CEO Jersey Finance, said:"A key part of our global markets strategy is to diversify our international connectivity as an International Finance Centre (IFC), and our refreshed South-East Asia strategy is a critical part of that. Our new presence in Singapore will both complement the existing profile we have built up over many years through Hong Kong and also strengthen relationships in other markets in the region where we feel we have a really strong story to tell - supporting both inbound and outbound investor capital.
"Critically, we see Singapore and Jersey as natural partners and believe that Jersey can play a really positive role within the region too, supporting Singapore's own ambitions. Both Jersey and Singapore have successfully created a specialist proposition for international investors built on high standards, a framework of internationally endorsed regulatory standards and a passionate belief in the value of global connectivity."
Deputy Millar added: "There are many similarities between Jersey and Singapore, as both are jurisdictions that have carved out a successful niche as centres of excellence for professional services and, increasingly, sustainable finance and fintech. The Government of Jersey continues to be focused on its objective of enhancing Jersey's international relationships and this new presence in Singapore is a really positive step in supporting that. The focus of our relationship with Singapore is one of cooperation and collaboration, and I have no doubt that Jersey Finance establishing a presence here will only strengthen that relationship."
Jersey has been building closer ties with Singapore for some years, with this year marking ten years since Jersey and Singapore signed a double taxation agreement. Meanwhile, research from the Centre for Economics and Business Research quantifying the full extent of Jersey's global economic footprint has found that the capital intermediated through Jersey equates to £46 billion of GDP in Asia each year, supporting in excess of 2.4 million jobs in the region.
