News

JFSC supports World Investor Week 2018

The Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) is once again supporting World Investor Week (WIW) which is a global awareness campaign to promote investor education and protection from 1-7 October 2018.

The success of the inaugural WIW last year surpassed all expectations with a total of 82 jurisdictions taking part and six international organisations/forums endorsing the initiative.

Mike Jones, Director of Policy commented:
“For the JFSC, World Investor Week 2018 is a great opportunity to bring to the fore the work that we undertake in relation to investor education by raising awareness of the increasing importance and emphasis being placed on improving financial literacy on a global scale. We are proud to be a member of IOSCO’s Committee 8 on Retail Investors, and the success of the inaugural WIW last year is a testament to the commitment of Committee members to share ideas and resources to improve financial literacy in all member jurisdictions and beyond.”

Throughout the week, the JFSC will be using various media to raise awareness of the key messages to investors, which is one of the fundamental purposes of WIW.

Financial education is increasing in importance for regulators globally. As a result the JFSC is involved in a number of initiatives such as public awareness campaigns, outreach programmes, our work with schools described below and is a member of the Jersey Fraud Prevention Forum.

In collaboration with Jersey Consumer Council and Community Savings, the JFSC have reached in excess of 2,000 secondary school pupils over the last 12 months, delivering a series of presentations to promote financial literacy ranging from an ‘introduction to finance’ to ‘how to protect yourself from fraud and scams’. Presentations to the schools for the 2018-2019 academic year will begin in the second week of October.

Additional Information
An extract from IOSCO’s Public Report on World Investor Week 2017:
“The original goal was to win the support of at least two international organizations/forums for the campaign, but WIW 2017 surpassed all expectations by attracting six. The G20, the World Bank, the International Forum for Investor Education (IFIE), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Network of Financial Services Ombudsman Schemes (INFO Network) embraced the pilot project, showing the world that financial education matters and must be taken seriously.”

World Investor Week (WIW) is a global initiative organised by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Committee 8 on Retail Investors of which Jersey is a member.
1 October 2018

This year marks the second year for WIW following the resounding success of its pilot edition in 2017 which saw huge support world-wide and which far exceeded its initial goals. IOSCO has published a Public Report on the success of WIW 2017 which can be found here on IOSCO’s website. The Country-Specific Report for Jersey can be found on page 101.

The two primary objectives for WIW are (1) to disseminate key messages that support investor education, investor protection and financial literacy and (2) to foster learning opportunities.

IOSCO’s key messages for 2018 are:
A SMART INVESTOR…
INVESTING BASICS
ICOs, DIGITAL ASSETS AND INVESTING ONLINE

  • Verifies that an investment professional is licensed
  • Conducts research on a product before investing
  • Assesses the impact of fees when choosing an investment
  • Understands that risk exists in all investments
  • Avoids "get rich quick" and "can't lose" schemes
  • Recognises the power of compound interest
  • Recognises the importance of diversification
  • Plans for and invests according to his/her future needs and goals
  • Recognises the benefit of long-term, regular and diversified investment
  • Understands the risks that are associated with initial coin offerings and crypto-assets in general and is careful in deciding whether to invest in these products
  • Does not forget about the importance of due diligence when considering investments in online and digital environments
  • Recognises the red flag warning signs of online investment fraud
  • Never invests based solely on a celebrity endorsement
  • Knows that most legitimate firms do not allow their customers to use credit cards to make investments

For more information on World Investor Week visit: http://www.worldinvestorweek.org/