Housing Costs Forcing Banks Out Of Jersey, Says Report

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

25 February 2002

According to a report in Thursday's Jersey Evening Post, housing costs and restrictions could be forcing banks and international businesses to leave the island.

In an interview given last week the Managing Director of the Bank of Ireland International, which relocated its headquarters to the Isle of Man at the end of last year, revealed that restrictions on housing and residence for staff in Jersey were a key factor in the decision to move.

Speaking from the Isle of Man, Roly Alden explained: 'People can buy a house here at a reasonable cost,' referring to residency rules in Jersey which generally restrict the purchase of property by foreigners to expensive luxury properties. 'There is no housing regime, they have a work permit system, and permits are reasonably easy to obtain,' he continued.

Meanwhile, despite a row in the Isle of Man over population control following a massive influx of foreign workers over the past few years, residence rules look set to remain the same after a motion tabled at the Tynwald last week calling for legislation on the issue was defeated.

The representative for Ayre, Edgar Quine, called for a new system of residence rules to be drawn up by October, stating that: 'I don't think uncontrolled immigration is an acceptable proposition'.

However, Chief Minister Richard Corkhill, who is reported to believe that additional residence controls would be bureaucratic and intrusive, managed to slow the process, calling instead for a progress report to be presented to the Tynwald in the Autumn.

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