Jersey investment funds - Summer 2026 update

“Time to Win” – Jersey’s Blueprint for Competitiveness 

Published in March 2026 following the Financial Services Competitiveness Programme, Time to Win represents a coordinated effort by the Government of Jersey, industry and the Jersey Financial Services Commission (the JFSC) to strengthen Jersey’s position as a leading IFC in an increasingly competitive market. 

While Jersey continues to enjoy substantial structural advantages: political stability, a respected legal system, tax neutrality, strong regulatory standards and deep expertise across funds, banking, fiduciary and private wealth services, many competing jurisdictions have become faster, more responsive and more effective at attracting international business. 

The challenge for Jersey is not one of strategy, but of execution. Industry has highlighted overlapping processes, duplication of information requests, inconsistent risk thresholds and avoidable delays. As a small jurisdiction, Jersey’s competitive advantage should be agility; this programme is designed to restore that advantage. 

The key pillars of the strategy are: 

• protecting Jersey’s simple, stable and certain tax regime; 
• reducing the cost of doing business; 
• renewing Jersey’s appetite for growth and international promotion; 
• accelerating innovation and digitalisation, including tokenisation; and 
• investing in infrastructure and IFC capabilities. 

For industry, the significance of Time to Win lies in its broader change of mindset. It advocates a growth-oriented approach across government, regulator and industry, while maintaining Jersey’s reputation for robust regulation and international standards. 

The strategy also provides the policy backdrop for Jersey’s current legal and regulatory reform projects, including reforms to the Control of Borrowing regime (discussed below) and wider modernisation of corporate legislation, including recent changes to the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991.  

Reforming the Control of Borrowing Regime

For decades, the Control of Borrowing (Jersey) Law 1947 and the Control of Borrowing (Jersey) Order 1958 have served as Jersey’s principal gatekeeping mechanism for capital-raising activities. The Government, the JFSC and industry now consider much of the framework to be duplicative of modern regulatory and product legislation. 

Rather than relying on standalone COBO consents, the proposal is to embed refusal and gatekeeping powers directly into relevant product laws. Existing entities holding COBO consents at the time of repeal are expected to remain in good standing without further action. Regulatory oversight is increasingly focused on retail participants, while professional and sophisticated investor structures should benefit from a significantly reduced compliance burden. 

The first phase of reform took effect on 13 April 2026 through the Control of Borrowing (Jersey) Amendment Order 2026. The amendments significantly narrow the circumstances in which regulatory consent is required: 

• many non-fund unit trusts no longer require COBO consent; 
• non-domiciled non-fund entities are largely removed from the regime; and 
• consent requirements relating to offers by foreign companies, partnerships, LLPs and LLCs are restricted principally to retail investor offerings. 

Full repeal remains the longer-term objective, currently targeted for 2027. If implemented as proposed, Jersey will move from a framework heavily reliant on bespoke consents towards one centred on product-specific regulation, clear statutory powers and risk-based supervision. 

For fund promoters, private wealth structures, corporate groups and their advisers, the reforms should reduce regulatory friction while preserving the JFSC’s ability to intervene where genuine regulatory concerns arise. The result is likely to be a simpler and more predictable framework aligned more closely with international practice. 

Jersey Introduces an Administration Regime 

Historically, Jersey has offered a range of restructuring and insolvency tools, including schemes of arrangement, creditors’ winding up and désastre proceedings. However, unlike many comparable common law jurisdictions (in particular England), Jersey lacked a dedicated administration regime focused on corporate rescue. 

That gap is now being filled through the Companies (Jersey) Amendment No. 2 Law 2026, which came into force on 19 June 2026. The new regime is intended to provide financially distressed companies with an opportunity to restructure or preserve value before liquidation becomes inevitable. 

The Royal Court may make an administration order where a company is, or is likely to become, insolvent and where administration is (i) reasonably likely to rescue the company, or its undertaking, as a going concern, or (ii) achieve a more advantageous realisation of assets than would be achieved through winding up. 

One of the key features of administration is the statutory moratorium that takes effect upon the making of an administration order. During this period, most legal proceedings, enforcement actions and winding-up steps are stayed without consent or court approval. Secured creditors’ enforcement rights are, however, largely preserved. This strikes a balance between giving the company breathing space and maintaining Jersey’s creditor-friendly credentials. 

Administrators are granted extensive powers to manage the company, continue operations, sell assets, borrow funds, compromise claims and take other steps necessary to achieve the statutory objectives. Those powers are accompanied by reporting obligations, court oversight and protections for creditors and stakeholders, including unfair prejudice remedies. Provisions dealing with transactions at an undervalue, preferences and related insolvency matters apply to administrators to protect stakeholders. 

The introduction of administration materially expands the restructuring toolkit available to creditors, investors, directors and practitioners. It also brings Jersey closer into alignment with leading offshore and onshore restructuring jurisdictions while preserving the flexibility and court supervision that characterise Jersey insolvency practice. 

For lenders and distressed investors, administration provides an additional mechanism for value preservation and restructuring. For companies facing financial difficulty, it offers a credible alternative to immediate liquidation. As cross-border restructurings increase in complexity, the availability of a modern administration procedure should enhance Jersey’s attractiveness as an international corporate and financing jurisdiction.