Should we have a financial deposit compensation scheme? (this question was put before the States announced their protection plan)
Senator Mike Vibert
Yes and one is being developed by the Council if Ministers, of which I am a member, to ensure Islanders’ savings are protected.
Montfort Tadier
Absolutely. The two real questions are: why do we not already have one and how will it be funded? Currently the UK scheme is funded by the banks themselves. I don’t think it is right to rely on the rainy day fund. We may soon need that for other things.
Deputy Sarah Ferguson
The policy designed in the late 1960′s has stood the test of time – the 1970s banking crashes passed us by. We still have some of the strongest banks in the world here. The JFSC and the Council of Ministers are taking the correct steps to deal with the situation.
Deputy Alan Maclean
Yes – Jersey is one of the best regulated jurisdictions in the world and only accepts banks which are in the top 500. The majority are in the top 100. The credit crisis is very serious although Jersey is a deposit taker and therefore far less exposed.
Cliff Le Clercq
Yes of course, people need to know that their money is safe. Individual deposits of residents are guaranteed by the States, and I understand that guarantee/compensation schemes are en route. The original was shelved, why is a mystery. I suggest you ask whoever was in power at the time.
Senator Philip Ozouf
Residents’ and all deposits must be fully protected. We have one of the strongest banking regulatory systems in the world and that is why we can guarantee local deposits. In the extremely unlikely event that a Jersey bank would fail, a compensation scheme will be introduced.
Mike Higgins
Yes. Such schemes are an essential element in protecting the deposits of ordinary people. The draft Law I produced in 2003 while at the JFSC would have protected all deposits up to £33,000 and would have been financed by the banks. Why have ministers not brought it into existence?
Nick Palmer
Yes for local depositors, but it is impossible to guarantee the billions on deposit here from outside the Island.
Senator Paul Routier
Islanders do need to have an effective protection scheme that works. Having read about the various schemes that do exist around the world and the one that was drafted for Jersey a number of years ago, I am not sure that those schemes are relevant in current global financial position.
Deputy Alan Breckon
We certainly should have a scheme that protects cash deposits. People do not expect to lose their hard-earned savings. The failure to have something in place here is the failure of the Economic Development Minister, Philip Ozouf, as is the absence of a Financial Services Ombudsman.
Deputy Geoff Southern
The Economic Development minister should have addressed it already. The Isle of Man and UK have a scheme funded by banks, but ours will depend on taxpayers’ money. His initial response that we only have the ‘top 500 banks’, so we’re ok, is pathetic – some of those are worst hit.
Trevor Pitman
That Jersey – a major financial centre – did not already have this in place is surely truly shocking to many ordinary people. To also hear that this issue has just been sat upon by the Economic Development Minister for something like five years can only compound that feeling.
Chris Perkins
Yes. It should cover the deposits of residents and non-residents and in order to maintain the competitiveness of our finance industry, should be introduced with all due speed. The draft law has been delayed for five years, why does it take an election for anything to happen?
Nick Le Cornu
We will conform with the UK and EU. No credit to the foresight of the Walker/Le Sueur/Ozouf/GST government. Profits are private but debts it seems must be socialised. The Rainy Day Fund will be security. A lifeboat levy should be imposed on banks and finance houses.
Ian Le Marquand
Yes. We urgently need this both in order to safeguard local people’s savings and in order to remain competitive with other jurisdictions. This could be based upon cross-guarantees from other banks who operate here. Ordinary people’s savings should not be at risk in the current uncertain financial climate.
Mark Forskitt
Yes, but why has the existing draft law been left unimplemented for so long.