The island’s Financial Services Commission also wants, if necessary, to pursue people who have moved to other jurisdictions so enough evidence can be gathered to come to a satisfactory conclusion of any inquiry.
Jersey’s Government ministers first have to agree to lodge the request for the new powers, contained in a consultation paper covering proposals for “a variety of amendments that constitute routine maintenance of the laws that regulate the financial services industry”.
Andrew Le Brun, director of the office of the director general at the Jersey Financial Services Commission told International Adviser that, once lodged the proposals have to sit with the State for six months.
The timings could be affected by the elections being held in Jersey in coming months, but Le Brun said the new powers could become law “by the beginning of the fourth quarter of this year”.
The reasoning for the new powers, outlined in a section called the ‘Omnibus Law’ within consultation paper No 4 2012’, is because the Commission “encountered instances [during its investigations] when it was inhibited in carrying out its statutory functions”.
The Commission also highlighted how it was further prevented from providing assistance to another regulatory authority “in circumstances where it had received assistance from that regulatory authority”.
The new powers it wants are intended to remove these limitations, which relate to the range of persons who may be served with notices to provide the information and documents, or to answer questions, and the nature of the information and documents that the Commission may require, and questions that it may pose.
Currently, the laws allow the Commission to obtain the information, documents or answers it requires from a regulated business, one that was formerly regulated, and from persons who are or were directly concerned with the operation of that business, or any associate of a principal person.
