Jersey Financial Services Commission Quarterly Report

The Jersey Financial Services Commission has today 3 June 2004 issued its quarterly report for the period 1 January 2004 to 31 March 2004.

Headlines:

• Bank deposits increased by 4.3% to £155.7 billion during the quarter.

• The total value of funds under management increased by 15.1% to £35.8 billion during the quarter.

• The value of collective investment funds managed in the Island stood at £95.7 billion as at 31 March 2004. For further details please see comments below.

Bank Deposits
Jersey bank deposits increased by 4.3% (£6.4 billion) during the quarter despite an increase in the value of sterling against other currencies.
68% of bank deposits are held in currencies other than sterling. During the quarter there was an increase (5.4% in US dollar terms) in the underlying value of US dollar balances and in the underlying value of the balances denominated in the Euro (15.6%in Euro terms).
The number of banking licences in issue reduced to 51, largely reflecting change in the group structure of some banks.

Company incorporations
The total number of incorporations during the last quarter was 593, an increase of 11% over the corresponding period of last year. This continued the trend in the last quarter of 2003. The increase is due to changes in UK legislation relating to stamp duty which will come into force later in the year and the improving global economy.
The number of 'fast track' incorporations for the quarter was 255 and the number of normal company incorporations was 338.
Against their self-imposed target of 95% the Registry recorded a 98% rate for normal two-day incorporations and a 99% rate for fast track companies.

Investment Business
Total funds under investment management (class B of the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998) stood at £35.8 billion as at 31 March 2004, an increase of 29% over the same quarter of 2003. Against the last quarter of 2003 this represented an increase of 15%.
As at 31 March 2004 the total number of clients of investment managers was 20,288 which represented a small decrease over the previous quarter.

Conclusion
David Carse, Director General of the Commission, commenting on the quarterly statistics said today, " Most areas of financial services business continued to expand during the first quarter of 2004, with encouraging growth in deposits, collective investment funds, company incorporations and funds under management".

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