General

Further to the announcement in our 2021 Annual Report advising of our intention to implement mandatory two-factor authentication (‘2FA’) on our Online Portals for all our regulated entities, we have been working on our background systems. On this basis by 31 May 2023, the Commission intends to switch 2FA on for all Portal Users who have not yet enabled this functionality. 2FA is an additional...

Today, the Commission issued a Consultation Paper on Retail General Insurers. General, as opposed to life, insurance concerns coverage for house contents, bikes, health costs and so on. Guernsey already offers such insurance on a global basis and aims to grow this business. To support this aim, the Commission intends to develop further the current regulatory regime. This involves a strengthening...

The Commission has today issued amendments to the country lists in Appendix C and Appendix I of the Handbook on Countering Financial Crime and Terrorist Financing reflecting the Financial Action Task Force’s updated list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, which includes South Africa and Nigeria. FATF has removed Morocco and Cambodia from its list of jurisdictions under increased...

The Commission’s website has been updated and refreshed and today is re-launched with some new features designed to improve its functionality, user experience and accessibility. Recognising that the Commission’s website is a key tool which we use to relay messages and information to industry, these changes have been delivered as part of the Commission’s 2021-24 three-year business plan. The search...

The Commission has today published a Consultation Paper proposing rules for the mandatory filing of three existing financial crime returns to which administrative financial penalties will apply for late filings and inaccurate submissions. The Commission is intending to make rules which will make mandatory the filing of the following returns within the timeframes set: The annual financial crime...

In September 2022, the Guernsey Financial Services Commission launched its Natural Capital Fund framework, as part of the growing Guernsey Sustainable Funds Regime. In December 2022, at COP 15, governments from around the world came together to agree on a new set of goals to guide global action by 2030 to halt and reverse nature loss. [1] To ensure that the Natural Capital Fund framework reflects...

The Commission has elected John Aspden as its Vice-Chairman in the wake of the sad death of its previous Vice-Chairman, Baroness Couttie. John is also Chairman of the Group of International Finance Centre Supervisors and co-chairs the Basel Consultative Group, and was made an MBE for his work in financial services. He was Chief Executive of the Financial Supervision Commission in the Isle of Man...

On 2 February 2023, the Commission imposed discretionary financial penalties as follows: Mr William Stephen Cairns (“Mr Cairns”) a financial penalty of £133,000; and Mr Du Preez Gert Vermeulen (“Mr Vermeulen”) a financial penalty of £35,000. Further, on the above date, the Commission imposed the prohibitions as follows: Mr Cairns prohibited from all functions for a period of ten years and six...