This article was first published in the Financial Times.
Henry Freeman reflects on his move to Guernsey after 20 years working in the City of London as a fund manager, investment banker and fintech entrepreneur and shares perspectives on Guernsey's unique position.
After two decades working in London's financial district, what do you particularly like about your new life in Guernsey?
There's an incredible quality of life and the ability to strike that perfect work-life balance. I’ll always love the pace of the City, but here I can walk my daughter to school, go for a run and be at my desk in the same amount of time as my commute to work on the tube took.
Post-COVID, remote working and video calls have become the norm so I can easily engage with partners, clients and colleagues globally. Travel-wise, Guernsey is remarkably well-connected – London in under an hour through Gatwick and London City and now a regular Paris service.
Ultimately, Guernsey provides professional fulfillment, island life and I can spend more valuable time with my family. What’s not to love!
What brought you to Guernsey and what do you do now?
I moved to Guernsey with my wife and daughter in September 2019 to build out a new business here with investment bank, Liberum. After a total of nine years with the group, at the end of 2021, I decided to go “plural”, leveraging my experience as an investment manager, corporate financier and fintech entrepreneur, taking on a variety of roles with strategy at their core and providing real investment substance.
My first appointment was the States Investment Board, Guernsey’s sovereign wealth fund, and I have taken on several other Non-Executive Director roles with investment companies and funds. I’m an adviser to Guernsey Finance and I sit on the Guernsey Investment & Fund Association’s Executive Committee. One of the initiatives I’m most proud of having established is the GIFA Investment Challenge – a competition which takes financial education into island schools. This year we have more than 100 teams and over 350 students competing.
I continue to scratch my entrepreneurial itch as well - later this year I’m launching The Fund Society – a new online hub for investment professionals with thought leadership and intelligence-based content at its heart.
On the charity side, I serve on the board of the Victor Hugo Centre. Hugo lived here for 14 years, campaigning globally for social justice and publishing literary masterpieces including Les Misérables. The new centre aims to continue his legacy, championing human rights internationally, nurturing artistic expression and providing a cultural hub for the island's creative community. Guernsey’s government is donating a landmark building and we are now looking to raise capital to realise the vision.
Guernsey boasts a strong financial services industry. What makes its business environment so appealing?
Guernsey has cultivated a rich ecosystem over the 50 years of being an international finance centre. There’s an incredibly experienced pool of legal and accounting professionals, seasoned fund administrators, private wealth experts and captive and reinsurance specialists.
As a London-based investment banker, many of my listed investment company clients were domiciled in Guernsey. I witnessed first-hand the efficiency, regulatory oversight and depth of knowledge that underpins the island's financial services industry. Notably, the island is home to more London Stock Exchange-listed companies and funds than any other jurisdiction outside the UK.
The island's robust yet pragmatic regulatory environment, overseen by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC), has also been instrumental to its success. Guernsey consistently pioneers novel structures and products to meet evolving market demands. These include Protected Cell Companies (PCCs) – popular with captive insurance, family offices and fund managers, and Private Investment Funds (PIFs), which provide cost effective speed to market and lighter regulatory touch – particularly popular with VC managers, family offices, first-time fund managers and emerging asset classes.
How has Guernsey embraced innovation, particularly in fintech and sustainable finance?
The island was the first jurisdiction globally to establish a dedicated regulatory regime for green investments through the pioneering Guernsey Green Fund rules. It was also one of the founding centres of the United Nations’ Financial Centres for Sustainability in Europe.
On the fintech side, in 2019 Guernsey enacted legislation recognising smart contracts and electronic agents. This was a pioneering move and has positioned the island as a prime destination for fintech, artificial intelligence, blockchain and tokenisation applications in finance. It’s an area I’m particularly interested in.
How does Guernsey's finance industry benefit the UK?
As a leading global finance centre, Guernsey facilitates investment from around the world into the UK. According to a recent report from Frontier Economics, Guernsey-based funds channel £57 billion of investment into UK assets and provide £3-4 billion of social value every year across the UK. The quantum of this capital has increased by 14% a year since 2020 and the value of it should not be understated.
Ultimately Guernsey's robust regulatory framework, reputation as good global citizen and its seamless access to UK markets make it an ideal hub for mobilising global capital into UK assets, companies and infrastructure. Guernsey remains an important and useful part of the British family.
