The Bailiwick of Guernsey

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Our annual awards dinner took place on Friday 28 June 2024 at the Duke of Richmond Hotel.

The award winners for this year are:

  • Company Secretary of the Year - Megan De Garis – Langham Hall (Guernsey) Limited
  • Governance Professional of the Year - Alexandra Wildeman – Ocorian Administration (Guernsey) Limited
  • Corporate Services Team of the Year - Apex Fund and Corporate Services (Guernsey) Limited – CST Team
  • The One to Watch - Sarah Cox – Redwood Group

The Student Excellence Awards was also be presented on the evening based on CGIUKI examination performance in 2023/2024.

Guernsey Annual Awards Dinner 2024

This event took place on Thursday 16 November 2023

The Guernsey Registry is undergoing a digital transformation and is launching a new online customer portal in November to improve customer experience. The Registrar, Helen Gains, will be providing an update about the portal and its new functionality and how this will affect annual validations. Helen will also provide an industry update about recent changes to legislation.

Download the slides here.

Speaker:

Helen Gains

Helen Gains is the Registrar for Companies, Foundations, LLP's, Intellectual Property, Charities and NPO's and is a Deputy Registrar for Limited Partnerships at the Guernsey Registry.

She has a MSC in Corporate Governance, holds the Grad CGI qualification and also the Foundation and Practitioner EU General Data Protection Regulation certificates issued by IBITGQ.

This event took place on 28 September 2023

The past three years have proved challenging on a number of fronts with businesses having to address changes in working arrangements, supply chains, and job security, highlighting the importance of resiliency for governance professionals in all roles in supporting their colleagues and their boards.

In this annual conference we looked at what resilience in governance looks like and explored how governance professionals can meet these challenges and help develop and support resilience and sustainability within their companies. We also reflected on the latest CGI policy matters plus

  • the impact of the new Guernsey Charity Law

  • the latest technology to assist with Board management

  • consideration of the upcoming Moneyval visit

  • how diversity and inclusion supports resilience.

This event took place on Thursday 18 May 2023

Download the presentation here

Board Dynamics and Effectiveness is an extensive topic. The presentation by Ian White and Clare Chalmers will focus on the Board Evaluation and will explain both the legal and practical requirements and the important key items that need to be considered in the process.

Speakers

Clare Chalmers, Founder, Clare Chalmers Limited

Clare founded Clare Chalmers Limited, she is a renowned practitioner and thought leader in assessing and improving board effectiveness with extensive board advisory experience. Her board evaluations and board development plans help directors and senior executives improve individual and collective performance, leading to a more effective board.

She is able to provide insight on a broad range of corporate governance issues, having spent over 12 years evaluating a diverse portfolio of boardrooms. Clare brings a thorough and considered style to board evaluations drawing out key issues and presenting these both verbally and written in a perceptive and sensitive style.

She has worked with many FTSE companies, financial services firms and membership organisations, private companies and more. She is particularly well-placed to provide insights around composition, dynamics and boardroom diversity.

During a 20-year career in investment banking, culminating in COO roles at CSFB and Lehman Brothers, Clare devised and ran 360-degree evaluation processes and managed in-house coaching, mentoring and training programmes. She also devised new management and client audit systems, as well as metrics measuring progress against strategic goals, focusing on profitability and cost efficiency.

Ian White, Board Evaluator and Executive Coach, Arolla Partners Limited

Ian is a former Chief Legal Officer/Company Secretary for a range of companies. He now works as an Independent Consultant principally in the area of Board Effectiveness and Governance where he has undertaken reviews for all types of organisations including FTSE 100s, major private companies, mutuals, private equity backed, and public sector ones.

He is an APECs Certified Professional Executive Coach coaching NEDs and senior executives, a CEDR Accredited Mediator and the Course Director for Cranfield NED Programme. He is also a founder member of the Board Effectiveness Guild, which seeks to share best practices of Board Effectiveness Reviews.

This event took place on Thursday 27 April 2023

The Lending, Credit and Finance (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2022 (the "LCF Law") came into partial force on 1 January 2023 and will come into full effect on 1 July 2023.

In this lunchtime seminar, Chris Hutley-Hurst and Jamie Bookless from Walkers (Guernsey) LLP provided an update on the changes to the LCF Law including discussion on the four new licensing regimes, the applicable rules and licence applications.

Speaker: 

Chris Hutley-Hurst, Partner in Walkers' Investment Funds & Corporate Practice Group in Guernsey

Chris is a Guernsey Advocate with more than 20 years' experience in private practice in Guernsey, London and New York, specialising in investment funds, corporate matters, tax law and financial services regulation.

Chris is a Guernsey Advocate and is ranked as a "Rising Star" by Legal 500 for Investment Funds work, and is recognised for Corporate and M&A work.

Jamie Bookless, Senior Counsel in Walkers' Guernsey Insolvency & Dispute Resolution Group

Jamie Bookless is a Senior Counsel in Walkers' Guernsey office advising on disputes and regulatory matters involving regulated businesses and structures in Guernsey.

Jamie qualified in Scotland and he has been in private practice for 20 years and has been working offshore since 2015.

Jamie also holds a certificate of Proficiency in Insolvency from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

This event took place on Tuesday 14 February 2023

The Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 (Insolvency) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 ("the Law”) changes came into operation on 1 January 2023.

Please find the presentation slides here.

In this lunchtime seminar attendees received an update on the changes to the Law and its impact on insolvent and voluntary liquidations.

Sharifah Morris from Solve Group and Sarah Brehaut from Walkers (Guernsey) LLP guided us through the legal and practical perspectives on the Law.

This event took place on Thursday 3 November 2022

Presentation slides

Update on the Guernsey Registry's IT project which is currently being undertaken to replace its current IT systems and the initial changes which have been made that effect Annual Validations.  An update was also be provided on phase 2 of the IT project which will introduce a new portal and bring the majority of the Guernsey Registry's services online. In addition an update was be provided on the Charities Register.

Speakers

Helen Gains

Helen Gains is the Registrar for Companies, Foundations, LLP's, Intellectual Property, Charities and NPO's and is a Deputy Registrar for Limited Partnerships at the Guernsey Registry.

She has a MSC in Corporate Governance, holds the Grad CGI qualification and also the Foundation and Practitioner EU General Data Protection Regulation certificates issued by IBITGQ.

Joe Le Page

Joe Le Page is the Guernsey Registry Lead on Systems Performance and Projects, as well as a Deputy Registrar for Limited Partnerships.

Since joining the Guernsey Registry in July 2010 he has successfully completed the CGI Certificate in Offshore Finance and Administration as well as attained the ICS Service Management qualification.

This event took place on Thursday 21 October 2021

Our speaker Chris Hutley-Hurst, Senior Counsel in Walkers' Investment Funds & Corporate Practice Group, provided the latest update on the Economic Substance Requirements, which now also brings into scope Guernsey partnerships and certain non-Guernsey partnerships.

Speakers

Chris Hutley-Hurst, Senior Counsel, Walkers (Guernsey) LLP

Chris Hutley-Hurst is a Senior Counsel in Walkers' Investment Funds & Corporate Practice Group in Guernsey.

Chris is a Guernsey Advocate with considerable experience as an offshore lawyer – he advises on all aspects of investment fund and corporate transactions, including investment fund formation, acquisitions, disposals and regulatory matters.

He also advises on economic substance and taxation matters, having worked as a tax lawyer while practising onshore.

Chris is ranked as a "Rising Star" by Legal 500 for Investment Funds work, and has experience of working in London and New York.

Chris spent six years working with another leading offshore law firm in Guernsey before joining Walkers' Guernsey office in January 2021.

Prior to that he spent a combined 12 years working in the London offices of two leading US law firms, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP, and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP, spending a year in the New York office of the latter.

This event took place on Thursday 23 September 2021

2021 has been a chance for organisations to move on from the crises of 2020. It has been a time for boards to think and act more dynamically and innovatively and look at what’s on their agenda to create a sustainable future.

With this in mind, the theme for this year’s conference was ‘creating a sustainable future’. We looked at the state of the governance landscape, the challenges of the last year and reviewed what was coming up on the governance horizon and the impact on organisations in Guernsey.

We had an incredible line-up of speakers, in addition to all the usual opportunities to network.

This event took place on Thursday 29 April at Best Western Moores Hotel.

At this event our speaker provided an update in respect of tax information reporting specifically looking at recent developments in respect of the CRS and also the potential for Guernsey Revenue Service Audits.

Speakers

Neil Hoolahan

Neil is a Director in the Grant Thornton, Channel Islands tax team and specialises in Offshore Trust and Company tax advisory and compliance services. He was named as Citywealth Future Leaders - Accountant of the Year 2018.

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