According to an Isle of Man Online report, referring to a recent European Commission paper calling for heightened regulatory defence against international terror financing and money laundering, Mr Kelly told a Manx Business Connection breakfast:

“As always with the European Union we find ourselves having to meet their standards and yet we can't compete on that level playing field because we are denied access to those markets.”

He went on to add: “The Isle of Man can't avoid it because we are going to get sucked into it in some way, so the real entrepreneurial skill is how to embrace it to see how we can get something out of it.”

Kelly suggested that the Island must improve its knowledge of global markets by improving its “market intelligence”.

“We really need to build up our database on some of those things because these are problems other countries are facing,” he argued.