Jersey Economic Statistics Show Healthy Financial Sector Growth

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

27 April 2004

The latest series of economic statistics published by the States of Jersey last week have shown that the jurisdiction’s banking and fund industry are continuing to grow.

According to the data, bank deposits in Jersey totalled £155.8 billion as of September 2003, a 14% increase compared compared to the same quarter a year earlier, whilst the number of banking licenses held steady at 55 in the third quarter of 2003.

However, the number of banks has fallen steadily from a figure of 77 in September 1999.

Meanwhile, the value of collective investment funds held in Jersey by the end of 2003 stood at £108.2 billion, representing growth of 11.7% since September 2002. As of December 31 2002, there were a total of 449 funds based in Jersey, over one hundred more than the 344 recorded at the end of 1998.

Between 1996 and 2000, the annual total profit for firms engaged in the island’s financial services sector increased by 50% to £1.2 billion, the government’s data shows.

However, as world stock markets and economies took a tumble in the subsequent years, profits declined by 5% in 2001 and a further 4% in 2002.

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