Chief Minister hands over responsibility for finance

Tuesday 14 May 2019

The Chief Minister is shedding responsibility for financial services, handing the portfolio to his predecessor, Senator Ian Gorst.

According to Senator John Le Fondré, the decision to delegate authority for financial services legislation to Senator Gorst - the Minister for External Relations and the former Chief Minister - was made in order "to better protect and promote internationally our financial services industry, especially in a Brexit and post-Brexit environment."

He added that the decision was also intended to recognise the industry’s importance as "largest employer and a mainstay of our economy".

The move is an unprecedented one, with responsibility for the £1billion sector historically falling under successive Chief Ministers or the Economic Development Department.

Pictured: Senator Gorst has been delegated responsibility for the finance sector, which is worth over £1bn to the local economy.

The blanket order means that that External Relations Minister will now inherit responsibility for a range of legislation governing the running and regulation of the financial services sector, including the Financial Services Law, the Financial Services Commission Law, the Companies Law and the Bankruptcy Law.

Senator Gorst will also assume responsibility for Charities (Jersey) Law 2014, which this year for the first time affords a formal legal status to charities which are recognised by the Charities Commissioner.  

In addition, he becomes responsible for the Dormant Bank Accounts (Jersey) Law which many of these charitable bodies regard as an important potential source of income in the future. Since the Law was passed in 2017, over £4.8million has been collected into a pot known as the 'Jersey Reclaim Fund', but no funds have yet been distributed to the charitable sector.

Pictured: Senator John Le Fondré, the current Chief Minister, made the decision last week.

Formal notice of the Chief Minister’s plan to transfer these responsibilities to the External Relations Minister was given in a report to the States Assembly dated 10 May.

Under the States of Jersey Law, the Chief Minister has to provide the States Assembly with two weeks’ notice of such changes.