REASONS FOR NOT DEPOSITING YOUR MONEY IN GUERNSEY

Guernsey has earned the reputation as being the worst jurisdiction in the world for depositors, because of the way it treated its depositors in Landsbanki Guernsey

Guernsey has no interest in you as a depositor, except to extract what tax it can from the interest earnings on your deposits

It has no bank of last resort

The island is too small & too vulnerable to shoulder high
risk banking operations  

In the financial tsunami of 2008  Guernsey was the only western Government to totally fail its depositors, totally in every way and refuse through its Policy Council to instigate a Public inquiry into the circumstances leading up to the administration of Landsbanki Guernsey. The Isle of Man opened a Select Committee inquiry. 

It has a seriously flawed Depositors' Compensation Scheme

In time of financial crisis affecting depositors the Government acts primarily in the interests of Guernsey & not of depositors

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission [GFSC] attitude appears to be that banks should be allowed to fail to the detriment of depositors.

The GFSC now says that Customers must be responsible for their own due diligence and not rely on the GFSC , even though the GFSC are responsible for regulating and vetting the banks

Letters of Comfort, guarantees, undertakings, are not worth the paper they are written on, as they have no legal standing, so the GFSC now say since mid 2008, in a consultation document

The GFSC has obtained legal protection from being sued by
depositors in the event of regulatory failure on its part

The notion of 'trust' & 'duty of care' does not feature as
 a moral imperative in the island's banking culture

Banks tell depositors  what they, as banks, want them to
know  & do not necessarily tell them, as customers,  what they  want to know

Banks advertise to give the appearance of offering  high
returns with the illusion of assured security on  money deposited. This was shown not to be the case with Landsbanki Guernsey in October 2008 although the GFSC allowed them to purchase Cheshire Guernsey in Aug 2006 on production of a Guarantee, letter of Comfort and an undertaking from Landsbanki Islands hf.

1600 depositors, including 600 Guernsey Tax payers lost a total of £117 million. To date March 2010 depositors are still owed 32.5% of their deposits some 18 months down the line.