Conference Raises Question Of IoM Government's Ties To Regulator

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

25 May 2004

The interests of the Isle of Man’s finance industry may be better served if political ties between the government and the financial regulator are severed, it was suggested at a recent compliance conference.

“The Isle of Man has got to try and let go of regulation and give it an independent statute and independent constitution,” Geoffrey Walsh, deputy group compliance officer with London-based insurance firm Willis Group, told the Manx Compliance Conference.

According to a Newsmann report, he went on to observe that the International Monetary Fund has largely given the jurisdiction’s regulatory system a clean bill of health - save for the questions over accountability and independence.

He pointed to the example of Jersey, noting that the granting of political independence to the island’s financial regulator has been well received by the industry and has had “very little negative effect” on the jurisdiction’s financial industry.

Nonetheless, Mr Walsh was complimentary regarding the way in which the financial sector is regulated in the Isle of Man, noting that the FSC attaches “great importance to making sure that its own policies and procedures are correct, and the legislation that it would like to see is articulated well to the national government here.”

Recommended