First Jersey Foundations established

Jurisdiction issues

Offshore law firm Mourant du Feu & Jeune has established the first two Foundation structures in Jersey, on the first day the new law came into force in the Island.

Giles Corbin, partner and head of the firm’s Trusts practice, Simon Gould, partner and head of the Financial Services team, and associates Katharine Skulski and Craig Swart advised on the establishment of the first Jersey Foundations.

Jersey’s new Foundations law came into force on Friday 17th July, having been approved by the Privy Council in June, making it the first Crown Dependency to offer Foundations. The new law has been welcomed as a positive step in affirming the Island as a leading jurisdiction for private wealth management business.

Whilst similar in design to Foundations in other jurisdictions, the Jersey structure has mandatory requirements for one member on its council to be licensed as a Qualified Person by the Jersey Financial Services Commission and for the Foundation to have a ‘guardian’, who has a duty to supervise the council’s activities. In addition, the flexibility of the Jersey structure allows it to be tailored to suit a broad range of needs.

Giles Corbin, partner at Mourant du Feu & Jeune, said: “Mourant du Feu & Jeune has one of the leading trust and private client practices in the Island and we are delighted to be involved in establishing the first Foundations in Jersey. There has been significant interest in Jersey Foundations for some time and this firm has seen a steady flow of enquiries and instructions over recent weeks, particularly from wealthy clients in civil law jurisdictions where the trust concept is not readily recognised. In fact, the potential flow of work could be considerable and we have further Foundations in the pipeline.

“Due largely to Jersey’s reputation as a well-regulated jurisdiction and its ‘white list’ status, we have experienced a flight to quality in terms of the administration of trusts moving to the Island and we expect to see a similar effect in relation to Foundations. There are 77 pure civil law jurisdictions in the world including China, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, so the fact that civil law thinkers will more readily recognise the concept, key features and operational model of a Jersey Foundation should not be lost on us.”

Mourant is a multi-disciplinary, international professional services group, specialising in offshore law and fund and corporate administration. The Group currently has offices in Cayman, Dubai, Dublin, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, New York and Singapore.
It employs more than 1,000 individuals worldwide.

Mourant is made up of two, complementary divisions. Mourant du Feu & Jeune is an offshore law firm. Operating from offices in Cayman, Guernsey, Jersey and London, it specialises in providing offshore legal services to financial institutions, corporations, fund promoters and high net worth individuals.

Mourant International Finance Administration is an international provider of fund and corporate administration services, with over $170 billion in fund assets under its administration. It operates from offices in Cayman, Dubai, Dublin, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, New York and Singapore.

Due largely to Jersey’s reputation as a well-regulated jurisdiction and its ‘white list’ status, we have experienced a flight to quality in terms of the administration of trusts moving to the Island and we expect to see a similar effect in relation to Foundations