Guernsey Seeks Trusts Data

by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

14 June 2011

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission has announced that 2011 Fiduciary Annual Return forms will shortly be available with changes made in light of a key recommendation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to improve the island's monitoring of island-based assets.

The IMF recommended after its 2010 visit that the Commission collect and publish statistics on assets held by trusts and companies serviced by the Guernsey fiduciary sector to enable it to understand the sector more fully.

Shortly after The Regulation of Fiduciaries, Administration Businesses and Company Directors, etc. (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2000 was enacted a composite figure for all assets under management was requested in the Annual Return. This requirement was removed after a number of years, partly due to the difficulty in collecting such data and the variable reliability that could be attributed to it once collected.

The Commission would now like to collect data, as part of the annual return, on assets under trusteeship. A guidance note is to be released by the Guernsey Association of Trustees in due course, which will be available when the annual return form is published.

The salient changes will include disclosure requirements on licensees to provide statistics on assets held under the following categories:

• Liquid or near liquid assets held with institutions in Guernsey;
• Liquid or near liquid assets held with institutions outside Guernsey;
• Real Estate;
• Private company shares and other trading assets;
• Works of Art, antiques etc.; and,
• Other diverse assets.

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