General

The Commission has today, issued in final form, the revised Handbook on Countering Financial Crime and Terrorist Financing (“the Handbook”). The Commission has made these amendments, to the Handbook, in order to take into account the Bailiwick of Guernsey’s National Risk Assessment (“NRA”) on money laundering (“ML”) and the financing of terrorism (“FT”) which was published in January 2020. These...

On 12 June 2020, the Royal Court found in favour of the Commission’s application to have the above matter struck out. Mr Chick had brought a claim, against the Commission, that the enforcement proceedings which were found against him on 31 May 2018 amounted to a breach of his human rights. The matter was struck out for having no basis in law. This ruling provides clarification on the position of...

On the 8th day of June 2020 the Commission has imposed discretionary financial penalties on the following parties:- • £42,000 on Global Insurance Group Limited;• £17,500 on Christopher Schofield; and• £10,500 on Andrew William Robert As a result of failures to meet the Minimum Criteria for Licensing in respect of Schedule 7 of The Insurance Business (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2002. More details...

On the 4 day of June 2020 the Commission imposed, on an agreed basis, a discretionary financial penalty (under section 11D of The Financial Services Commission (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 1987) on Standard Chartered Trust (Guernsey) Limited of £140,000. This was as a result of historical failures to meet the Minimum Criteria for Licensing in respect of Schedule 1 of The Regulation of Fiduciaries...

The Commission’s Financial Crime Division is recommencing its routine financial crime inspections to firms with immediate effect. Routine inspections were suspended on 19 March 2020 to enable firms to deal with the immediate operational impact of the coronavirus lockdown. Financial Crime inspections are resuming now as the finance industry has demonstrated its resilience and firms have generally...

On 29 May 2020, the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, acting to protect the interests of investors and pursuant to powers granted to it under the Protection of Investors (Administration and Intervention) (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Ordinance of 2008, made an application to the Court to have administrators appointed to Continent Worldwide Limited, a company licensed under the Protection of...

Following our announcement of 24 March 2020: https://www.gfsc.gg/news/commission-allows-more-time-firms-complete-key-financial-returns], the Commission has been pleased to note the resilience of the Bailiwick’s finance sector including the widespread ability to work from home effectively. This operational resilience, taken together with recent States of Guernsey announcements regarding exit from...

The world’s circumstances have changed fundamentally with the arrival of COVID-19 which has become a major threat to global wellbeing and economic prosperity. The extraordinary measures taken by governments around the world in response to the threat posed by COVID-19, have inevitably and significantly altered any forward-looking statements and hence, in publishing its 2019 annual report today, the...

The Financial Action Task Force ("FATF") has released a guidance paper regarding COVID-19-related money laundering and terrorist financing risks, which can be accessed directly on the FATF website. This paper and other FATF guidance can be found within the FATF Guidance section of the Commission's Legislation and Guidance page.