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Oct 12 - Chief Minister's Speech At Finance Services Lunch - Full Text

Ministers,

Leader of the Opposition,

Ladies and Gentlemen

Welcome to this fantastic setting of the Guildhall.

It is my pleasure to once again report to you this year on how Gibraltar is developing.

We are continuing to grow as a great place to do business.

Growing as the home of international online gaming.

And growing as one of the most reputable financial services jurisdictions in the world.

In just the past year since many of you were last with us we have seen huge progress in Gibraltar.

Many projects which were commenced when we were first elected have now taken shape.

Two are particularly important to report on this year. 

The first is the opening of the University of Gibraltar.

Apart from dealing with degree courses the University will also deliver a number of courses in the area of continuing professional development.

It will also offer accountancy and legal courses.

And of course, in May of this year a new bank was established in Gibraltar.

The Gibraltar International Bank which is wholly owned by Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar.

It is our National Bank.

And the opening of the Bank has been welcomed by all the existing banking operators on the Rock who are working with us to make it a success that compliments their business models.

I am happy to be able to report to you that not only has the Bank opened its doors in the year since we met.

It has also exceeded the expectations in it's business plan by well over 100%.

Perhaps most importantly also, the Gibraltar Savings Bank, which has been established since 1882, has in the past year further increased its deposits to over a Billion pounds sterling.

Deposits had been in the region of £300m when we took it over four years ago.

Profits of the Savings Bank have grown from a few hundred thousand per annum four years ago to just under £9m last year.

And the reserves of the Savings Bank have therefore grown too, from just £1000 to £20m in that same four year period.

A demonstration of how prudent and effective  management can produce growth in banking profits and reserves in the interests of both depositors and shareholders.

A new University.

A new bank exceeding expectations.

And our oldest bank with new record highs in deposits, profits and reserves.

Those really are good news stories about the last year in Gibraltar.

As is the news that our GDP has grown by 10.3% last year.

Our statistics office predicts similar double digit growth again this year.

Indeed, our current GDP per capita stands at almost £51,000, ranking us in third place on the IMF database of per capita GDP rankings.

But this progress is not achieved by relying on the maturity of low lying fruit.

It is not achieved without hard work and effort.

And that is not just the hard work and effort of my Government ministerial team.

Or even of the great professionals who I have the benefit of working with in the Civil Service and wider public sector in Gibraltar.

It is principally the work of the great Gibraltarian and Gibraltar resident professionals who run our private sector.

From the lawyers and accountants to the developers and online gaming pioneers.

It is the combined efforts of all of us in the Gibraltar economy that delivers the sort of results I am able to share with you today.

Of course one of our most unique selling points is the high standard of the regulatory environment in Gibraltar.

As I told you when I first addressed you four years ago, I was determined that we would get ahead of the many EU directives which we had not yet transposed and which were past due their transposition deadlines.

We achieved that two years ago.

And we are not going to fall behind again.


In fact, I announced last week that we will likely be the first of all the EU jurisdictions to implement a Central Register of Beneficial Ownership.

This is one of the requirements of the Fourth Anti Money Laundering Directive and I believe Gibraltar will be the first EU jurisdiction to comply with this obligation.

Because we recognise that to be successful today, financial services centres must be at the forefront of compliance with international standards of transparency.

And we are.

And in order to further demonstrate that, in a recent reshuffle I appointed a Minister with specific responsibility for International Exchange of Information.

The pioneering work of establishing that Ministry went to Gilbert Licudi QC.

And he is doing an excellent job of the co-ordination of the many different gateways that are engaged.

Just so that you are aware, Gibraltar now has Exchange of Information relationships with 79 other nations.

In Berlin late last year, alongside the Chancellor George Osborne and the finance ministers of fifty other nations, I signed for Gibraltar as Early Adopters of the Common Reporting Standard known as Global FATCA.

All of this work on international conventions, alongside the continued growth in our online gaming industry is being expertly handled by Minister Albert Isola.

And that work by him and James Tipping and the team at the Finance Centre Department has delivered to Gibraltar the same OECD Phase Two peer review as the United Kingdom and Germany.

That ranks our financial services sector in that respect in the same group as this City of London and a Frankfurt.

That is the type of company we are happy to keep.

And Albert's work is also reflected in the brilliant continued growth of the online gaming industry.

There are six more licensees already than last year.

There are more people working in the sector.

Gaming duties, PAYE and Corporation Tax receipts are all up in respect of this sector; showing its resilience and continued growth.

Because, despite external challenges to the industry, Gibraltar has now become a pivotal point for remote gaming.

This year we celebrate twenty years since my predecessor, Joe Bossano had the forsight to agree to the grant of the first such licence to Ladbrokes in 1995.

And the growth in the online gaming industry in the past four years has been staggering.

The numbers of people employed in the industry has increased by almost a thousand.

And in the financial services industry, the numbers of people employed has increased by over six hundred.

Of course, with such growth in those sectors, you won't be surprised to hear that unemployment in Gibraltar was at a record low of 164 at the end of August.

Apart from the increased PAYE benefits, of course this means that we need to provide offices developments for these increasing numbers of employees and in homes too.

So, you will not be surprised that in the year since I was last here, we are very happy to have announced the development of the reclaimed area on the Eastside of Gibraltar.

Blue Water Resort will provide over 500 new luxury homes as well as a Super Yacht Marina, a new hotel and other terrific world class amenities in a development with a value well in excess of £1 BN.

In addition 1,700 affordable homes will be developed on the site and elsewhere by the same developer.

That will be a real gaming changing development for Gibraltar.

I welcome Michael Crissel and Leslie Vercoe of the Camoren Group to this event.

Work has already begun on the project with exploratory piling both on land and at sea.

On the western side of Gibraltar work has already commenced on the centrally located MidTown Development and on the iconic World Trade Centre.

Both are very advanced.

And, just this morning, I can announce to you now, that I have had the pleasure of notifying Ian and Richard Livingstone of London and Regional Properties that they have been selected as Preferred Bidders for the development of the centrally situated Rooke site.

That site is 17,000 square metres of prime development land in the centre of our city.

A once in a generation opportunity not to be mishandled.

A once in a generation project which will present mixed used opportunities potentially including a small school and new facilities for emergency services.

And a once in a generation opportunity to partner with a company that has an investment portfolio of over £9bn.

A long term investor with offices from Park Lane to Panama City and I hope soon also in Gibraltar.

Richard Livingstone joins us today and I want to formally welcome him on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar to this event.

Ladies and gentlemen, the work on the Eastside Blue Water Resort, the World Trade Centre and Midtown, alongside the bid by London and Regional to develop a premium site like Rooke demonstrates in objective terms a huge vote of confidence in the strength of the Gibraltar economy.

A huge vote of confidence in the direction in which Gibraltar is travelling. 

And a huge vote of confidence in the work that you do with your professional colleagues in Gibraltar and which delivers mutual benefit and prosperity.

It is, in effect, a huge vote of confidence in the depth, longevity and endurance of the relationship between the City of London and the Rock of Gibraltar.

Together, we have successfully seen off challenges in the past.

On the day of the launch of the In Europe Campaign, I am sure that together we will face off challenges in the future.

And together we will long celebrate our lasting bond.

Rock & City. 

Together for mutual benefit and profit.

Thank you for taking the time to join us today.

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