Jersey Financial Services Commission Quarterly Report

The Jersey Financial Services Commission has today, 7 December 2004, issued its quarterly report for the period 1 July 2004 to 30 September 2004.

Headlines:

• Bank deposits increased by 0.97% during the quarter to £159.17 billion.

• The number of collective investment funds and COBO funds rose sharply to 769 during the quarter, albeit this will take time to be reflected in the value of the funds (£96.9 billion at end of September 2004).

• The total value of funds under management (Class B of the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998) stood at £35.2 billion as at 30 September 2004, an increase of 16.5% over the same period last year.

• The growth in company incorporations continued during the quarter, with a 14% increase over the same period last year.

Bank Deposits
Jersey bank deposits increased by 0.97% (£1.53 billion) during the quarter to £159.17 billion.

31.9% of bank deposits are held in sterling and 68.1% are held in currencies other than sterling.

During the quarter, the number of banking licences increased from 51 to 55. This was the result of four licences being issued to Cayman-based banks which invoked disaster recovery plans following the impact of Hurricane Ivan. The banks’ disaster recovery plans require the temporary operation of the banks from Jersey. Since 30 September 2004, one of the banks has returned its licence as it has resumed operations in the Cayman Island. The other three banks continue to operate temporarily from Jersey.

Company incorporations
The total number of incorporations during the September quarter was 629, an increase of 14% over the corresponding quarter in 2003. This continued the trend seen in the previous three quarters. The increase was primarily due to changes in UK legislation relating to stamp duty which came into force during the year, and business activity in the Island.

The number of ‘fast track’ incorporations for the quarter was 262 and the number of normal company incorporations was 367.

For the first nine months of 2004, against their self-imposed target of 95%, the Registry recorded a 99.25% rate for normal two-day incorporations and a 97.8% rate for fast track incorporations.

Investment Business
Total funds under management (Class B of the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998) stood at £35.2 billion as at 30 September 2004.

Due to a reporting error by one institution the previously published June 2004 figure was overstated by £2.1 billion. The corrected figure for funds under management as at 30 June 2004 is £34.5 billion.

There has therefore been an increase in funds under management of £0.7 billion (2%) in the quarter ended 30 September 2004.
As at 30 September 2004, the total number of clients of investment managers was 20,297.

Conclusion
David Carse, Director General of the Commission, commenting on the quarterly statistics said today, ”The main feature of the quarter was the very sharp increase in the number of funds, which is encouraging for the development of the industry in Jersey. Bank deposits continued their steady rise and the volumes of investment business and corporate activity remain well above last year’s levels.”

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