Guernsey Finance

Mourant Ozannes has opened an office in Hong Kong to provide clients and intermediaries with access to the firm's offshore legal services in an Asian time zone.

The office opening has been timed to coincide with celebrations for Chinese New Year, giving Mourant Ozannes' Asian office an auspicious start date in 2012 - the Year of the Dragon.

BDO Limited, an audit and accountancy firm based in St Peter Port in Guernsey, has joined forces with BDO LLP, the sixth largest accountancy and business advisory firm in the UK.

The number of insurance licenses issued in Guernsey last year rose more than 50% compared to the previous 12 months.

Figures show that the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) licensed 72 international insurers during 2011, which is a 53% increase from the 47 approved during 2010.

This has helped push the net number of international insurance entities licensed in Guernsey up by 12, from 675 at the end of 2010 to 687 at the close of 2011.

The Guernsey office of the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc (JLT) is to play a key role in a new mortgage indemnity insurance scheme being introduced in the UK.

Guernsey has signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with India.

The Island has also put pen to paper with the Seychelles and is expected to sign with St Kitts and Nevis in the coming days. This will take the total number of TIEAs signed by Guernsey from 31 to 34* by the end of the year.

The agreement with India was signed yesterday (20 December) by Guernsey’s Chief Minister, Lyndon Trott and the Indian High Commissioner to the UK, His Excellency Rajesh N. Prasad, at the Indian High Commission in London. It is Guernsey’s 13th bilateral TIEA with a G20 member.

European Captive Forum (ECF) 2012 is a unique two-day Captive Insurance event designed by the captive owners group ECIROA in conjunction with Captive Review.

ECIROA’s captive owner members will descend on the city of Luxembourg on 13-14 November to debate and shape the future of the industry.

For further information about this event, please visit the event website.

For further information on this event, please visit the event website.