THE tax haven protesters who took to the streets of St Helier last week had a perfect right to stage their public demonstration but it can be argued that they chose the wrong place to make their point. The industry in Jersey has always stoutly resisted the tax haven label – a stance that has been supported by government and the Island’s regulatory body, the Jersey Financial Services Commission.

Unfortunately, the outside world is all too often indifferent to nuances and is more than happy to lump what it wrongly sees as uniformly wealthy and comfortable Jersey with jurisdictions where financial services are poorly regulated and banking secrecy laws still prevail.

Of course, those who bother to inquire more closely into conditions here rapidly discover that those genuinely in the know – people and agencies ranging from Andrew Edwards, who conducted the review of our regulatory mechanisms, to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – soon understand that there are varying levels of probity and that this Island’s reputation in this respect is second to none.

That said, we can expect our principal industry to be the object of fresh scrutiny at intermittent intervals. We are, for example, currently waiting for the results of the recent International Monetary Fund inspection. In addition, the world’s attention will undoubtedly be focused on offshore financial centres by some of the deliberations at the G20 conference to be held at the beginning of April.

However, as well taking note of what international bodies and the world at large have to say about us, it is clear that we should also look critically at the way in which we earn most of our living. It is important that assurances that our standards of regulation are of the highest standard are not mere mantras but are founded in reality.

It is also important that we continually reappraise and fully understand the position of finance in Island life. Given finance’s overwhelming importance, any debate on it might resemble a discussion on the desirability of a coconut diet between two men on a cartoon desert island with a single palm tree, but assessing what it has done for us in the past and what it is likely to do in the future remains a vital exercise.
Taking the industry for granted or allowing it to rule the roost entirely are both recipes for disaster in years to come.