Fiduciary

The Commission has today removed Iceland from Appendix C (Equivalent Jurisdictions) of the Handbook on Countering Financial Crime and Terrorist Financing and issued an instruction for all specified business to ensure that full customer due diligence has been applied to all existing business relationships connected to Iceland by 31 January 2020.  This action follows the Financial Action Task…

The Commission has today issued, in final form, the revised Handbook on Countering Financial Crime and Terrorist Financing ("the Handbook"). The Commission has revised the Handbook, in order to allow firms to advance work on revising their business risk assessments and policies, procedures and controls to take account of the provisions of Schedule 3 and the rules and guidance in the Handbook…

The Commission has today issued proposals to amend the transitional rules in the Handbook on Countering Financial Crime and Terrorist Financing regarding the timeframes for firms to update their Business Risk Assessments and Policies, Procedures and Controls, which take into account the revised timeframe for the publication of the Bailiwick’s National Risk Assessment. There are no changes…

The Commission wishes to remind all financial services and prescribed businesses (with the exception of personal fiduciary licensees) that the Financial Crime Risk Return (“the Return”) is due for submission by 31 October 2019. The Return can be found through the Commission’s Online Submissions Portal, located here: https://submit.gfsc.gg/ Further information on the background to the…

Section 3(1)(y) of The Regulation of Fiduciaries, Administration Businesses and Company Directors, etc. (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2000 After due consideration, the Commission will be amending our approach to specific discretionary exemptions (an “exemption”) in two ways:  1)     To clarify the extent of an exemption. An exemption will only apply to the specific regulated activity in…

The Commission is pleased to announce that its application for membership of the NGFS has been accepted. Guernsey is the first island International Finance Centre to achieve membership of the NGFS in a move consistent with the international engagement element of Guernsey’s green finance strategy. The NGFS was established by eight central banks and supervisors following the "One Planet Summit"…

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission is today issuing two Consultation Papers seeking feedback from interested parties on potential changes to the regulatory framework under the Regulation of Fiduciaries, Administration Businesses and Company Directors, etc (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2000 (the "Fiduciaries Law") with the objective of ensuring that the regime continues to be both compliant…

The Commission is today issuing Instruction No. 02/2019 for Specified Businesses, replacing and repealing Instruction No. 01/2019 for Specified Businesses issued on 1 April 2019.  Changes since Instruction No. 01/2019 include the addition of Panama and the removal of Serbia.  Further details in respect of these jurisdictions can be found within Part B of the Instruction.  A copy of Instruction…

Financial Crime Risk Return 2019  The Financial Crime Risk Return for the reporting period 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019 (the “2019 Return”) is available for completion on the Online Submissions Portal for all firms required to complete the 2019 Return. The submission deadline is 31 October 2019.  There are no changes to the fields within the 2019 Return, however, please note that page 13 of…

The Commission has today, issued in final form, the revised Handbook on Countering Financial Crime and Terrorist Financing. This follows the approval of the Criminal Justice (Proceeds of Crime) (Bailiwick of Guernsey) (Amendment) Regulations, 2019 by the States of Guernsey on 12 June 2019.  These amendments introduce an activation date of 31 March 2019 for the application of measures relating to…