Jersey’s reputation is critically dependent on our ability to demonstrate, through our regulatory and registry activities, that we can effectively regulate and supervise businesses in the Island.
The strategic review that we undertook in 2019 reinforced this message. To improve our effectiveness, we have devoted more resources to financial crime, increased the number of examinations that we undertake, and laid the foundations for more risk-focused work through data collection and development of our risk model.
Creating a dedicated team
In 2019, we created the Financial Crime Examination Unit in order to prioritise specific examinations with a financial crime focus, formalising the specialist capability to address relevant threats.
By ensuring that our supervisory examinations team has the specialist skills and resources to conduct specific financial crime examinations, we have simultaneously enabled our wider programme of examinations to undertake more thematic reviews across all risks and address the ongoing conduct and prudential threats present in Industry.
Thematic examinations conducted on regulated businesses
* Money Laundering Reporting Officer
Increasing our engagement with businesses
Over the course of the year, we significantly increased our interactions and engagement with regulated businesses.
Our supervisory teams devoted increased resource to examinations with a particular focus on the role of the Money Laundering Reporting Officer – the key person responsible for coordinating a business’ front-line fight. The output of our Supervision Examination Unit increased by 18% compared to 2018 and we completed three thematic examinations across 42 businesses with feedback published for outsourcing, property managers, letting agents and estate agents.
During 2019 we collected the second full year of supervisory risk data which supported our work on the Island’s National Risk Assessment and powered the development of our risk model. The core purpose of the risk model is to ensure that the activities we undertake are focused on the areas of greatest risk of which terrorist financing and financial crime are the most significant.
Building on the rich dataset that we will continue to develop beyond 2019, we were able to complete the first phase of our risk model during the year, which will support our supervisory and enforcement teams in continuing to hone our focus on the financial crime threat.
Working together to tackle the threat
This work is a joint effort, both within the JFSC and with key Island agencies.
We saw the increased benefits of a closer working relationship between our Supervision and Registry teams to share common issues and escalate matters to our newly formed High Risk Business Committee, which considers applications that could potentially pose higher risk due to the nature of the business. As we progress our strategic roadmap, this relationship will intensify with the development of Registry supervision - adding additional oversight to our registry processes in our fight against financial crime.
We equally have our own role to play in spotting and reporting suspicious money laundering activity and, in 2019 alone, 35 members of our staff submitted 98 suspicious activity reports to the Government of Jersey’s Joint Financial Crime Unit.
Authorisations and Cessations in 2019
