Jersey Finance Sector Unsettled By New Banking Changes

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

17 July 2002

The Jersey Evening Post reported on Monday that another bank is restructuring its operations on the Island, in a move which is likely to further unsettle the jurisdiction's finance sector.

Following recent announcements of job losses at the Royal Bank of Canada, and the Royal Bank of Scotland International, the wealth management arm of Barclays Bank plc has announced that jobs may be lost as a result of restructuring, according to the JEP report.

When Barclays Private Clients announced in April that it would be establishing headquarters for its offshore island businesses on the Isle of Man, the bank promised that there would be very little impact on customers as a result of the move, and that there would be no job losses.

However, following a meeting of senior management, it seems that substantial changes may now be on the cards, according to the Jersey Evening Post. Speaking to the newspaper this week, a spokesman for the private bank's head office announced that:

'There have been no announcements about specific jobs, but there are definitely some changes going on. We are looking at the structure of how the bank operates and changing the business around a bit. If the regulatory approval is granted it will mean that Jersey and Guernsey will be run out of the Isle of Man, whereas previously they reported to the UK.'

He added: 'There has been a meeting of senior executives to hammer out how the structure may be in the future. There will be changes, but it is too early to say what those changes might be. It is a filtering-down process.'

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