Guernsey Strengthens Chinese Ties

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

01 October 2010

Guernsey has begun dialogue with key government and regulatory officials in China to create relationships for the benefit of the island's financial services industry.

Peter Niven, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency for the Island’s finance industry, joined the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Nick Anstee, for the Beijing and Shanghai legs of his recent visit to the country.

The trip included meeting again with Tu Guangshao, the Vice-Mayor of Shanghai, who has hosted Guernsey’s Chief Minister, Lyndon Trott, on several occasions, and visited the island towards the end of 2008.

“Travelling with Anstee provided us with another opportunity to strengthen our relationships in Beijing and Shanghai and also reinforced our strong connections with the City of London,” said Niven.

“Indeed, this visit enabled us to show our hosts the complementary nature of the relationship between Guernsey and London and at the same time we yet further developed our contacts in the City," he added. "For example, as well as with Anstee, I was able to build on friendships with Chris Gibson-Smith, Chairman of the London Stock Exchange and Miles Templeman, Director General of the Institute of Directors, and also initiate new relationships with other members of the delegation, including leading practitioners from London law firms.”

Guernsey has had a representative office in Shanghai led by Wendy Weng since the end of 2007.

“Having Wendy on the ground in Shanghai also gave us the opportunity to set-up our own parallel itinerary. This meant that when not attending official appointments as part of the Lord Mayor’s delegation then Wendy and I were able to hold separate meetings with government and regulatory officials,” said Niven.

This included meeting with Dr Fang Xinghai, Director General of the Shanghai Municipal Financial Services Office, as well as meeting with government tax officials and representatives from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).

“I also know that Wendy had arranged itineraries for Gerald Hough from State Street, and Alan Chick from the Richmond Group, from Guernsey, to visit finance industry practitioners in the region at the same time I was in China, and it was very useful to meet up with them and exchange ideas about our trips. It is extremely encouraging to see Gerald and Alan utilising the resource that is available to anyone from the island to make their own visits, develop their knowledge base and build contacts.”

Concluding, Niven said: “Guernsey has already built strong relationships with government and regulatory officials in Beijing and Shanghai and this visit was extremely useful in reinforcing them ahead of what we anticipate to be a busy and productive autumn.”

As part of Guernsey’s commitment to tax transparency, the Island’s government and the government of China are making arrangements for a Tax Information Exchange Agreement to be signed between the two jurisdictions in the near future.

In addition, Guernsey’s Chief Minister, Lyndon Trott, will travel to China in early November to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Shanghai Municipal Financial Services Office.

Guernsey is also continuing to seek approval for its companies to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, has progressed the signing of a MoU with the CBRC and is starting the ball rolling on signing a similar MoU with the CSRC.

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