Annual Fee for Schedule 2 Business: Publication of Annual Fee Notices
and Annual Fee Form

On 20 July 2011, the Commission published Annual Fee Notices for 2011 and 2012 onwards for businesses that are registered with the Commission under either Article 14 or Article 15 of the Proceeds of Crime (Supervisory Bodies) (Jersey) Law 2008, as amended.

Specified Schedule 2 Businesses which include Accountants, Lawyers, Estate Agents and Lenders are required to pay an annual fee in accordance with the timetable specified in the relevant Annual Fee Notice.

In addition, the Commission published the Annual Fee Form that must be submitted along with the relevant annual fee to the Commission.

The Annual Fee Notices and Annual Fee Form can be obtained from the Commission’s Website:

• Annual Fee Notices: Click here
• Annual Fee Form: Click here

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Solvency II

The Commission issued a Press Release on 25 July 2011, in order to clarify its intended approach to Solvency II. Solvency II is a capital standard for insurance and reinsurance companies that is expected to be introduced in the European Union by way of directive in 2013.

The Commission has invited input from all those members of the Jersey insurance sector that would be affected by changes in regulatory capital requirements applied in the Island. This dialogue did not identify any regulatory or other reason for implementing Solvency II in Jersey.

Whilst the Commission will continue to monitor the development of Solvency II, it will predominantly focus on changes to the international standards set by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (“IAIS”), which are due to be adopted later this year. It is these standards against which Jersey has previously been assessed by the International Monetary Fund.

The revised IAIS standards, which include provisions for risk based solvency, will be considered by the Commission, once finalised. The need to make consequential changes to Jersey’s insurance regulatory requirements, and the impact of such, will then be assessed. Any proposed changes will be subject to public consultation.

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2010 Annual Report

The Commission published its 2010 Annual Report on 7 June 2011. In addition to including the Commission’s financial statements, the Annual Report describes the work undertaken by the Commission during 2010 and envisages also some of the challenges and opportunities for 2011.

To view the Annual Report please click here.

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Consultation on revisions to Codes of Practice

On 12 April 2011, the “Commission” issued a Consultation Paper on proposals to update the Codes of Practice (“Codes”) that are issued under the four Regulatory Laws administered by the Commission. Codes of Practice establish high level principles for the conduct of business and also more detailed rules to explain how the principles must be met.

Many of the proposed changes to the Codes will have the effect of aligning requirements, so that there is improved consistency in provisions across all seven sets of Codes. For example, it is proposed to introduce greater consistency with:

• provisions that deal with “span of control”, so that there are consistent requirements governing the number of individuals that must be involved in the day to day management of a financial institution, and who may take part in that management;
• the insurance arrangements that financial institutions must have in place; and
• the types of events that trigger a requirement to provide information to the Commission and the period of time in which a financial institution has to notify the Commission that an event has happened.
  

Other changes are particular to a financial sector and therefore to a single set of Codes, and augment existing requirements or set new ones.

The Consultation Paper also invites:

• Comments on the pros and cons of consolidating the seven separate sets of Codes into one single set of Codes, in order to streamline the current Code-making process and to better recognise that financial institutions often must comply with more than one set of Codes.
• Respondents to consider whether further changes might be made to the Money Service Business Codes, ahead of a more general review of the scope of regulation and oversight of this sector later in the year.

The Consultation Paper and links to each set of updated Codes can be viewed on the Commission’s website by clicking here. Hard copies of the Consultation Paper are available upon request.

Draft Codes of Practice showing tracked changes (against current published Codes of Practice) have also been made available on the Commission’s Website. These tracked change Codes of Practice are provided as part of the consultation process and should only be considered as an aid in understanding where amendments are being proposed.

The draft Codes of Practice attached at Appendix E of Consultation Paper No. 4 remain the definitive versions on which the Commission is seeking Industry comment.

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Proliferation Financing Guidance

The Commission intends to publish new guidance on proliferation financing, in an effort to assist industry with the subject.

Proliferation financing is the act of providing funds or financial services which are used, in whole or in part, for the manufacture, acquisition, possession, development, export, transhipment, brokering, transport, transfer, stockpiling or use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery and related materials (including both technologies and dual-use goods used for non-legitimate purposes), in contravention of national laws or, where applicable, international obligations.

It is hoped the guidance will be publicly available on the Commission website during Quarter 3 2011.

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