May 12 - Albert Isola Party Political Broadcast

Written by YGTV Team on 12 May 2015.

This is the full text of a Party Political Broadcast delivered by Albert Isola of the GSLP yesterday evening on GBC...

Good evening,

I am delighted to say that we continue to strive in every direction to raise our profile and attract new business to Gibraltar. We have a good and powerful message where quality, regulation and reputation are at the cornerstone of everything we do. As the sector acknowledges, our commitment to compliance with international standards was the right thing to do. Our work with the regulators and representative bodies are the right thing to do, all working together to benefit Gibraltar plc.

As an example of this work, here are a few examples of what we have done this past month, in just 30 days;

: we have co hosted the 5^th KPMG Egaming summit here in Gibraltar for some 240 delegates and launched our gaming review,

: we have organised and hosted the first ever Gibraltar Finance funds conference in Gibraltar for some 100 delegates,

: we have attended together with the private sector the family wealth conference in London,

: we have witnessed the launch of the first ever ILS transaction in Gibraltar, by one of our own gaming companies - a new product for Gibraltar launched by us in the last 12 months,

: we have attended and supported a funds conference in Paris and a further one last week in London,

: this week we are at BIBA, an insurance conference in Manchester,

: we have published command papers on 3 new pieces of legislation for the financial services sector,

All of this just within the last month. And of course it continues; in June we spend 3 days in Bermuda, in July 2 days in Singapore and 2 days in Hong Kong and in each of these places we will host Gibraltar flagship events where we expect over 100 local professional guests attending and wanting to learn more about Gibraltar and its proposition.

But the real beauty of what we are doing, is that everything we do, we do in real partnership with the private sector. Whether its looking at legislation, or where we should be marketing, or new products for our industry or working through challenges the sector may face, we do it together, working side by side always looking out for what is best for Gibraltar as a jurisdiction.

We still have a long way to go to catch up for the lost years, and new challenges will of course appear, but I am delighted at the progress we are making and I must thank all those many professionals in the private sector who support us with their time, knowledge and expertise.

Our Financial Services community continues to grow and so does our commitment to it. We are working on our review of certain products and introduction of new ones, we are working on legal reform and with the FSC and the Finance Centre on the improvements to our regulatory regime. We have to be faster and better at what we do and we will get there.

In gaming we continue to grow, in a slow and sustainable manner and with excellence always in mind. We are the worlds premier online gaming jursidiction and it is right that we should continue to protect our brand and reputation in the manner that we are doing.

We are currently conducting a review of our gaming legislation to ensure that this is fit for purpose for the next generation of businesses coming to Gibraltar. We are doing this hand in hand with the sector and they will be consulted every step of the way.

We have had the challenges of POC tax and different countries introducing their own licensing regimes. It has been a challenging few years, but, despite some suggesting our gaming sector is shrinking…today we have more licencees than ever before, more executives and staff than ever before and I am delighted to tell you that we are 50% bigger today than we were in 2010, just 5 years ago. A remarkable achievement.

A centre of excellence is what we are working to maintain and our new Gibraltar University will also support this important sector in the area of responsible gambling. A further step in the right direction.

In the port our registries continue to perform well and our bunkering statistics are on their way back to where we want them to be. We work closely with the operators in the industry and understand each other, and are now focusing on a number of areas which we will believe will enable our sector to grow further.

Your Government is working in every direction we promised, and delivering what many believed to be impossible. The opposition will continue to throw stones as they believe they must, but we remain focused and energised on the job in hand and will not be distracted.

The opening last week of the Gibraltar International Bank is a further shining example of this. A modern, innovative and independently managed bank by professionals is what we promised and that is exactly what we have delivered. An institution we can and all should be proud of.

You will know that an election will be called we expect this year. We will not tire of telling you why we believe we should be trusted with your support but will always remain humbled and determined to meet your expectations and deeply conscious of the responsibility and trust you have placed in us.

Good night and thank you for listening.