The offshore financial centre of Jersey continues to be a magnet for UAE investors who have invested well over $11 billion, thus becoming one of its top investor countries from the Arab world.
Predictably, Jersey, which had very few accounts frozen, has also benefited from Arab money that has moved out of the US since September 11.
Total investment in Jersey stands at 400 billion with the Arab countries accounting for some 10 to 12 per cent of the total.
"Last year total deposits from the UAE in Jersey were around $11 billion. They has grown significantly making the UAE one of the top investing countries into the island," said Senator Frank Walker, First Minister of the State of Jersey.
Due to the high level of confidentiality, Walker was unable to disclose the exact investments from the UAE currently in Jersey. However, he said the deposits include both individual and institutional money.
The UAE's National Bank of Dubai and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (which recently set up a trust company) have a presence in Jersey.
Walker and his team are meeting the UAE Central Bank governor and also officials of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
"Banks and financial institutions from Jersey may set up offices in DIFC. There are five direct representations in the UAE from Jersey institutions and that will increase surely," he said, adding that DIFC and Bahrain are interested in some of Jersey's laws such as Trust laws.
"There is significant investment from Qatar and some other Arab countries," he said.
Walker confirmed that very few accounts were frozen in Jersey after September 11, 2001. "Jersey had very little terrorist money. We are strong on anti-terrorist funds and money laundering," he said.
"But in the last two years we have seen a lot of inward flow of money into Jersey. We certainly gained business from the withdrawal of Arab and other funds from the US," he added, without quantifying the amount.
Jersey has also complied with all the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations and is soon expecting the IMF report to be published soon.
Gulf News
