“The past few months have been a challenging period for the world’s financial systems but in this time of market uncertainty Guernsey has once again proven itself to be the centre of choice for banking deposits,” observed Alan Bougourd, Chairman of the Association of Guernsey Banks (AGB), and Managing Director of Skipton Guernsey.

Figures issued by the Island’s regulator, the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC), show that new deposit business came principally from financial institutions in Guernsey, banks elsewhere, corporate customers and particularly from Swiss fiduciary deposits (up 8.9%). Therefore, although Sterling business fell during the period, the overall currency mix saw growth in Swiss Franc, US Dollar and Euro business.

Peter Niven, Chief Executive of GuernseyFinance, added:

“The fact that the banking sector has been able to deliver such results in what has been a difficult quarter is testament to the robust nature of what is a mature segment of the Island’s finance industry."

“It also illustrates the benefits of having a diverse spread of banking business on the books, which includes strong flows of corporate deposits relative to retail business and this is a feature we encourage for the future. In particular there is substantial business coming from the other parts of the Island’s finance industry, in particular investment funds and especially private equity, demonstrating the continued buoyancy of these sectors.”

It was announced last week that total funds business in Guernsey grew by £8.9bn (5.7%) during the same period. That took the value of funds under management and administration in the Island to GBP164.5bn – a rise of GBP44bn (36.5%) over the year.

Within those figures, there are now 226 private equity funds with a value of GBP28.4bn – a rise of GBP2.4bn (9%) during the quarter and GBP8.4bn (40%) in the first nine months of 2007.