Consultation Paper No. 9 2021: Trust Company Business Fees

Summary

This is a consultation paper issued by the Jersey Financial Services Commission proposing changes to the fee rates and structure charged to Trust Company Business (TCB) registered persons under the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998. It sets out proposed fee increases for 2022 and includes a draft Notice of Fees (Appendix B) that would govern application, registration, change of control, late payment and late filing fees for TCBs. As a consultation, it is not yet in force and is open for industry comment.

• Who is affected: Any person applying for, or already holding, a registration to carry on trust company business under the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998, including affiliation leaders, participating members and non-affiliated persons.
• Proposed fee increase: An 8.5% increase in TCB fee rates (Jersey RPI plus 5%, rounded to the nearest 5 pounds), intended to raise approximately 3.8 million pounds from the TCB sector in 2022, of which about 810,000 pounds relates to registration fees.
• Fee cap phase out: Continuation of the previously announced reduction in the fees cap, with 2021 proposed as the last year the cap applies.
• Civil penalty offset: TCBs that have paid Civil Financial Penalties will receive an approximate 1.5% reduction in their next annual Trust Company registration fee.
• Draft fees notice terms: The draft Notice of Fees (Appendix B) sets registration fee due dates, a late payment fee of 5% of unpaid principal per month, a 200 pound monthly administration fee for missing fee-calculation information, and a 100 pound per month late filing fee for undelivered documents.
• Consultation process: Comments are invited either directly to the JFSC or via Jersey Finance (coordinating a collective industry response) by 24 December 2021; the final fees notice is expected to take effect on or before 1 January 2022.

Because this is a consultation document, none of the proposed fee changes are yet binding; firms should monitor for the final Notice of Fees and related JFSC feedback statement, and will be notified separately when to use myJFSC to collect invoices.

Key obligations

• Registration fee must be received by 28 February if the firm is already registered on 1 January, or on registration otherwise
• If registered after 1 July but before the following 1 January, the registration fee payable is half the fee otherwise payable
• Late payment of any fee triggers an additional 5% late payment fee on the unpaid principal, applied the day after the due date and on the first day of each subsequent month
• Failure to supply information needed to calculate a registration fee by the due date triggers a 200 pound administration fee, repeated monthly until the information is supplied
• Failure to file or deliver a required document by its due date incurs a late filing fee of 100 pounds per complete month or part thereof until filed, unless the JFSC has agreed in writing to a later date
• Interested parties wishing to comment on the proposed fee changes should submit responses to the JFSC or via Jersey Finance by 24 December 2021

Applies to

Trust company business registered persons, Applicants for registration to carry on trust company business, Affiliation leaders, Participating members, Non-affiliated persons

Deadlines

• 24 December 2021: Deadline for interested parties to submit consultation responses to the JFSC or to Jersey Finance
• 1 January 2022: Proposed commencement date on or before which the final TCB fees notice will take effect (fee period 1 January to 31 December 2022)
• 28 February: Deadline for registration fee payment for firms already registered on 1 January