Jersey Financial Services Commission Quarterly Report

The Jersey Financial Services Commission has today 20 February 2003 issued its quarterly report for the period 1 October 2002 to 31 December 2002.

Headlines:

• Bank deposits rose during the quarter by 2.1% to £139 billion.
• Collective Investment Funds values rose by 8.5%.
• 46 new Collective Investment Funds have been authorised during this quarter.

Bank Deposits
Jersey bank deposits have increased to £139 billion. This is an increase of 2.1% against the last quarter and of 5.4% against the same quarter last year.
The number of banking licences reduced to 59. Three banks withdrew from Jersey due to the reorganisation of their group structures.

Company Incorporations
The total number of incorporations for this quarter was 484, which shows a decrease of 63.3% over the same period last year. However, the total number of incorporations for the entire year was 2,829, which represents a 2.5% increase on last year's total.
The number of 'fast track' incorporations for this quarter was 191 and the number of normal company incorporations for this quarter was 293.
Against their self-imposed target of 95%, Registry recorded a 95% rate for normal two-day incorporations and an 86.6% rate for fast track companies for the year as a whole.

Investment Business
The total funds under investment management (class B of the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998) stood at £32 billion. When compared to the same quarter last year, this shows a decrease of 9.2%. However, against the last quarter this represents a 9.1% increase.
As at 31 December 2002 the total number of clients of investment managers was 23,063.

Conclusion
Richard Pratt, Director General of the Commission, commenting on the quarterly statistics said today, "These results are encouraging against a background of weak world financial markets. While there is no doubt that financial businesses are feeling the effects of those weak markets, Jersey continues to demonstrate that there is good business for a well regulated jurisdiction."

To read the press release in full, please visit the press section of www.jerseyfsc.org