Record highs for Guernsey fund industry but banks fare less well, official data shows

News - Savings

Written by Ray Clancy

Friday, 10 September 2010 10:41

Guernsey’s finance industry has seen funds reach record highs, growth in the insurance sector but there is mixed news for banking, the latest figures show.

Newly released figures from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) show that the value of funds business in the Island reached a record high of £224.2 billion at the end of June this year, a rise of 13.6% during the second quarter. Year on year it has increased 32.2%.

The figures also show that the gross assets, net worth and premiums written by the Island’s international insurance industry during 2009 were all up on the previous year and the first part of 2010 has seen a rise in the net number international insurance entities licensed.

But the value of bank deposits in Guernsey reached £116.8 billion at the end of June 2010, a fall of £1.9 billion, some 1.6%, during the quarter and down 6.2% on the same time last year. However, Swiss fiduciary deposit levels stabilised and Sterling deposits increased for the third quarter in succession.

The fall was partly due to deposits held in Euros being impacted by the recovery of Sterling. ‘Overall, there are some banks reporting lower deposit levels and others reporting increased levels so it is quite a varied picture with no particularly obvious trends,’ said Peter Niven, chief executive of Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency for the Island’s finance industry.

‘In the round, these figures show that Guernsey’s finance industry is in good health. We have not been immune from the impact of the global financial crisis but the Island has benefitted from the diversity of its finance industry, which has also proved to be extremely resilient. The general worldwide economic picture still remains fragile but these latest figures show that our finance industry is in robust shape,’ he added.

A breakdown of the figures show that Guernsey domiciled open ended funds decreased in value by £2.8 billion, 5.1%, during the three months to reach £53.3 billion, although this still represented an increase of £2.7 billion, 5.3%, year on year. The value of Guernsey closed ended funds grew by £1.7 billion, some 1.9%, to reach £94 billion, a rise of 27.2% over a full year.

And non Guernsey schemes, for which some aspect of management, administration or custody is carried out in the Island, reached £76.9 billion, up £27.9 billion, 57.1%, during the quarter and £31.9 billion, some 70.9% year on year.

During 2008 Guernsey’s international insurance industry had gross assets of £21 billion, net worth of £7.1 billion and premiums written of £3.3 billion but in 2009 these increased to £23.4 billion, £8.1 billion and £3.4 billion respectively. In addition, the net number of international insurance entities licensed in Guernsey has risen from 678 at the end of December 2009 to 686 at the end of July 2010.