Lord Wallace ‘misguided’

Tuesday 8th September 2009, 3:00PM BST.

Jersey Finance chief executive Geoff Cook

LORD Wallace appears to have misunderstood both Jersey’s finance industry and its constitutional relationship with the UK in his criticism of the Island, says Jersey Finance chief excecutive Geoff Cook.

He said that recent comments by the Liberal Democrat peer criticising the Island in the JEP, and in a subsequent letter to the Guardian newspaper have missed the point.

Mr Cook said that Lord Wallace’s characterisation of the Island as poorly regulated did not stand up against independent inspections that had praised Jersey’s regulatory framework.

‘Sometimes politicians get on a bandwagon with a media soundbite which gives them the opportunity to raise their profile,’ he said. ‘Lord Wallace said that the UK needs to reappraise what Jersey contributes for the services that it gets.I find that a very puzzling statement.’

Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post.

Click here for subscription details.

Individual editions are also available online.