Michael Foot, the author of a major independent review of British offshore financial centres for the UK Treasury published in late October, will speak at a Manx State of the Nation Conference next month in the Isle of Man.
The event is being organised by the Compliance Institute, a non-profit, UK-based organisation which promotes high compliance standards among senior corporate executives. It will take place on 27 January at the island’s Mount Murray Hotel and Country Club in Santon.
As reported here last week, Foot, a former managing director of the Financial Services Authority, is also scheduled to address a gathering of the Guernsey Fiduciary Forum in February, sponsored by Guernsey Finance.
A sell-out crowd of 240 is expected at the Compliance Institute event, which would make it the largest gathering since the annual conferences began to be held on the Isle of Man five years ago, according to Compliance Institute chairman and chief executive John Bourbon, who has been involved in putting the event together. Last year 170 people attended the conference.
Bourbon, an IoM-based compliance and regulatory consultant, said Isle of Man Treasury Minister Allan Bell is also scheduled to speak, which he said is adding to the interest among chief executives, compliance officers and others. ‘A New Dawn’ will be the theme of the day-long conference.
Other speakers are to include John Aspden, chief executive of the IoM’s Financial Supervision Commission; David Vick, Chief Executive of the IoM’s Insurance and Pensions Authority; Jon McGowan of Isle of Man-based adviser Mac Financial; and several yet to be confirmed.
The Compliance Institute event will take place less than four months after Foot signed off on his report for the Treasury.
As reported last week, Foot’s scheduled appearances at the Guernsey and IoM events are a measure of how his image in the offshore community has been transformed in the 12 months since his review was first announced.
Last December he was viewed with some suspicion by the offshore industry as an emissary of the UK Treasury with a mandate to find evidence that would confirm the suspicions of those who wanted to blame "tax havens" for the global financial crisis.
But his final report, released in late October, was widely viewed as unexpectedly fair and measured and was largely welcomed by the offshore centres on which it focused.
Foot is currently chairman of the Promontory Financial Group, a consultancy with offices in the City, and in addition to the FSA has also worked for the Bank of England and the Central Bank of the Bahamas.
Prior to Foot’s being asked by the Treasury in December 2008 to report on the offshore financial centres, his company, Promontory, was retained in by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission to investigage the GFSC’s handling of events relating to Northern Rock (Guernsey) and Landsbanki Guernsey. This inquiry, led by Foot, began in November and ended with the release of a report in early January 2009.
More information on the Compliance Institute event may be found by contacting the organisation, which is at www.complianceinstitute.co.uk. The price is £99 for CI members and £159 for non-members.
A fund-raising dinner on behalf of the Special Boat Service Association will take place the same evening in conjunction with the Compliance Institute conference.
