News

Insurance

Coronavirus – FAQs for consumers

12th March 2020
The Commission has published some FAQs on the consumer pages of its website to help inform consumers. These aim to provide easily accessible and clear information on the possible impact of coronavirus (Covid-19) on travel insurance and medical insurance for people living in the Bailiwick. With the Foreign and Commonwealth Office now advising against "all but essential travel" to Italy, it has...

Instruction No. 01/2020 for Specified Businesses

6th March 2020
The Commission is today issuing Instruction No. 01/2020 for Specified Businesses, replacing and repealing Instruction No. 03/2019 for Specified Businesses issued on 29 November 2019. Changes since Instruction No. 03/2019 include the addition of Albania, Barbados, Jamaica, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nicaragua and Uganda, and the removal of Trinidad and Tobago. Further details in respect of these...

National Risk Assessment

13th February 2020
On 10 & 11 February 2020 representatives of the Policy & Resources Committee, the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (“the Commission”) and the Financial Intelligence Service gave presentations on the Bailiwick’s National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing risks ("the NRA"). The Commission’s presentation covered the main money laundering and terrorist financing risks...

Commission Issues Thematic Review on Insurer Cash Management and Control of Funds

6th February 2020
The Commission has issued its report on the thematic review of cash management and control of funds by licensed insurers. The review was undertaken during the latter part of 2019. A copy of the thematic review can be found by clicking here. Broadly, the thematic review uncovered a number of areas of good practice, for example in maintaining appropriate signatory lists and having adequate policies...

Guernsey Green Fund – EU Sustainability Taxonomy

31st January 2020
The Guernsey Financial Services Commission ("GFSC") was pleased to note the recent political agreement reached between the European Council and the European Parliament on an EU-wide classification system, or "Taxonomy", which will provide businesses and investors with a common language to identify what economic activities can be considered environmentally sustainable. The detailed criteria...

Changes to the Online Submissions ('OS') Portal & Personal Questionnaire ('PQ') Portal

16th December 2019
Form upgrades Further to our previous news article regarding the forthcoming changes to the forms on the OS and PQ Portals, the following forms are now available in the new format: 126a - Fiduciary - Pension Scheme or Gratuity Scheme Quarterly Return 132 - Insurance Manager Annual Return 145 - Investment Quarterly Return 200 - Other Notification 220 – Outsourcing 226 - Surrender Registration It...

Iceland

28th November 2019
The Commission has today removed Iceland from Appendix C (Equivalent Jurisdictions) of the Handbook on Countering Financial Crime and Terrorist Financing and issued an instruction for all specified business to ensure that full customer due diligence has been applied to all existing business relationships connected to Iceland by 31 January 2020. This action follows the Financial Action Task Force’s...

Handbook on Countering Financial Crime and Terrorist Financing

1st November 2019
The Commission has today issued, in final form, the revised Handbook on Countering Financial Crime and Terrorist Financing ("the Handbook"). The Commission has revised the Handbook, in order to allow firms to advance work on revising their business risk assessments and policies, procedures and controls to take account of the provisions of Schedule 3 and the rules and guidance in the Handbook...