Analysing the economic contribution of Guernsey's Investment Funds Sector

Working with the Committee for Economic Development, on behalf of the States of Guernsey, Frontier has recently undertaken detailed analysis to provide up-to-date evidence on the economic contribution of Guernsey's funds sector to key jurisdictions around the world.

Our key measure of the economic benefits enabled by the Sector is the value of capital flows between different jurisdictions through Guernsey-domiciled funds.

The analysis demonstrates the highly international nature of these capital flows, helping to connect investors with profitable overseas investments all over the world. In mid-2019, Guernsey funds helped UK investors deploy £51.3 billion into overseas investment opportunities, including £23.8 billion into Europe, £12.2 billion into the USA and £10.6 billion into the Rest of the World. Compared with previous estimates from 2013, our results also show that the UK is an increasingly important jurisdiction both as a source and destination of capital flowing through Guernsey funds.

We also highlight the USA as a key jurisdiction, with £43 billion flowing to the USA via Guernsey funds, around two-thirds of this originating from elsewhere in the world.

Private Equity is the dominant asset class for Guernsey funds, in particular for investors based in the USA. More than 56% of the value of Guernsey funds in mid-2019 was in Private Equity funds, with US investors putting almost 95% of their investment into Private Equity. The share of Private Equity in total funds has, however, fallen since 2013.

More broadly, the report highlights that capital flows facilitated by Guernsey funds enable a range of economic and social benefits. These include creating employment, providing opportunities for investment in green and sustainable technologies through Guernsey’s emerging ‘green funds’ offer, and supporting business productivity and innovation.

You can download the full report by clicking the link here.

For more information, please contact media@frontier-economics.com or call +44 (0) 20 7031 7000.