Moving to a fully digital Registry
Our work in 2020 radically transformed the Registry, turning it into a modern, fully digital and customercentric service environment. Using best-in-class registry technology, we streamlined and moved all of our services online, making it simpler and more efficient for our customers to interact and share information with us. At the same time, this allowed us to enhance our capabilities to combat financial crime and therefore maintain Jersey’s leading reputation for its registers.
One of the biggest projects we have ever delivered, this programme of work was in response to a new law, which requires us to collect more information for our central registers to meet international standards. To achieve this, we overhauled and futureproofed our systems, and replaced our online platform, Easy Company Registry, with myRegistry - a new state-of-the-art online account where customers to manage their own information.
A key digital enabler was the delivery of an application programming interface (API) channel. This allows high-volume filing trust company and fund services businesses to integrate seamlessly with our systems, streamlining processes with direct information updates. Behind the scenes, we are also delivering enhanced vetting and compliance functions to further develop our capabilities to combat financial crime.
This was the first phase of the programme, with the rest being delivered throughout 2021.
Redesigning our approach to day-to-day supervision
To achieve our aim of becoming even more effective supervisors, we have looked closely at the way we supervise, particularly the processes and technology that we use.
2020 was the start of this journey, which will culminate in 2023 with completely re-structured work management systems. This is no small project but it will lead to us having a more consistent approach to the way we supervise and how supervisors engage with the businesses they oversee.
Over the 12 months, we undertook preparatory work to upgrade the core platform that our Supervision team uses day to day. We started making incremental changes to streamline systems so we reduce administrative tasks for supervisors. While strong foundations were laid in 2020, more detailed and expansive work will begin in 2021 to enable more services to move to our upgraded myJFSC platform.
Another significant step during the year was the further development of our risk model, which we initially deployed for supervisors in 2019.
To support the upgrade of our systems and digital platforms, we have put a number of our staff through LEAN process improvement training. This will help us to continually streamline processes and achieve efficiencies for both us and businesses.
Upgrading our online regulatory services
myProfile
In our 2020 business plan, we committed to automating more of our processes to make it easier for Industry to interact with us and provide information. The primary driver was, and continues to be, to make our dealings with Industry more efficient so we can improve our management of data and our engagement with regulated stakeholders.
By the end of the year, we successfully completed the first phase of upgrading myJFSC – our existing regulatory portal. This involved updating the old platform that key and principal persons used to manage and update their personal information with us via a personal questionnaire (PQ). We launched myProfile in November, the new online self-service account which replaced the PQ portal and allows individuals to apply for a ‘no objection’ to their role in financial services.
In 2021, we will expand the online services we offer and modify how Industry submits data to us. So far, this initial upgrade has halved the time it takes for applications to be processed.
We will continue to work with Industry to review our online services, making improvements to user experience with the end goal of having one platform for our regulatory interactions.
Digital outsourcing notifications
In June, we rolled out an online platform for businesses to submit their outsourcing notifications to us. The move to digital has made it easier for firms to provide this information and supporting documents.
This will be one of the services that we will review, improve and move to the new myJFSC in 2021.
Assessing our financial resilience
Ensuring our finances are stable and sustainable is a priority for us. We made a commitment to review how we control our costs and manage our finances and we started this work during 2020. Part of this review involved discussing our fee structures with Industry and Registry customers. We engaged with both audiences through open consultation and user group discussions. We will publish the findings of this review in 2021.
Improving our website
When we launched our new website in December 2019, we made a commitment to make regular improvements to its functionality and usability. In late 2020, we redesigned the news and events pages of the site and began development work to hone the search function. These changes will be delivered in the first half of 2021 with the sole aim of making it easier for users to find the information they are looking for.
