Let’s be honest: when most of us think about Jersey the words ‘tax’ and ‘avoidance’ come quickly to mind. Okay, so maybe Bergerac, cows and potatoes first, but financial chicanery certainly isn’t far behind.
That was certainly my association when I got a call from Jersey Finance Limited (JFL), the financial sector’s industry body. They were looking to review how they communicated the Crown Dependency’s financial services offering and wanted a strategic partner to help share these messages.
I have to admit that I knew next-to-nothing about the largest of the Channel Islands, nestled between England and France. A year on, I know a little more about the Bailiwick of Jersey, to give it its proper name. What’s more, I now fully recognise the importance of this International Financial Centre to so much of the City of London’s vital work.
Far from being some backwater fiddle-factory, Jersey is in fact at the vanguard of a fiercely competitive offshore financial services industry; setting itself apart from other centres such as Hong Kong, Luxembourg and Cayman.
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