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Business<br />
‘DISAPPOINTING’ BREXIT<br />
DEBATE LEAVES BRITAIN<br />
IN ‘LESS GOOD’ PLACE<br />
ABOVE LEFT<br />
TO RIGHT:<br />
SIMON OSBORN,<br />
DAME HELENA<br />
MORRISSEY<br />
AND JON MOULTON<br />
In May, Guernsey Finance hosted its annual showpiece event in London<br />
– the Guernsey Funds Forum.<br />
The fallout of the Brexit referendum vote in<br />
the UK has been ‘a disappointing episode in<br />
our country’s great history’, according to one<br />
of the leading businesswomen in the City.<br />
Dame Helena Morrissey, a leading figure in<br />
the British investment industry, who is now<br />
Head of Personal Investing at Legal & General<br />
Investment Management, was a supporter<br />
of Britain leaving the European Union.<br />
She told the Guernsey Funds Forum in London<br />
that she had wanted ‘a proper discussion<br />
and debate and a diversity of viewpoint’ on<br />
the subject in supporting Vote Leave.<br />
‘It seemed to me that the way the world<br />
is moving , we need governance close to<br />
people and assets. People were very rightly<br />
concerned about things that seemed very<br />
remote from them. I was calling for a rethink<br />
of our relationship. I thought it was worth<br />
a discussion but we didn’t actually have<br />
that debate. It became very shouty, very<br />
politicised, and very angry very quickly. We<br />
must all acknowledge that whatever view we<br />
took before, this has been a disappointing<br />
episode in our country’s great history.’<br />
Dame Helena said she was somewhat<br />
surprised at the refusal by many to accept<br />
the outcome of the referendum when more<br />
people voted to leave the EU than have<br />
ever voted for a single UK government.<br />
‘That unfortunately has detracted from the<br />
decision and caused us to be in less good a<br />
place than we otherwise would have been.<br />
Dame Helena shared the stage with private<br />
equity veteran and Guernsey resident Jon<br />
Moulton, who was also a supporter of Brexit.<br />
He said he too was disappointed by the<br />
Brexit debate but also now by Britain’s<br />
negotiating posture. He believed that Britain<br />
should have expected a hard Brexit and any<br />
further negotiations would be a bonus.<br />
‘It would have been so much better than where<br />
we are, the Europeans have no idea where<br />
we’re coming from and nor do we. But done<br />
well, we can end up with a stronger economy.’<br />
MORE FROM THE GUERNSEY<br />
FUNDS FORUM<br />
Jon Moulton, the Guernsey resident<br />
described as ‘the public face of the private<br />
equity industry’, hit out at the ever-increasing<br />
demands of corporate governance.<br />
‘Far too many companies simply take<br />
regulation without kicking back. Fund<br />
managers on the whole don’t engage in<br />
consultations – people whose interest is<br />
in greater regulation are the bulk of the<br />
people who reply to consultations, so it<br />
becomes a self-reinforcing process.<br />
‘We need to adopt an evidence-based<br />
approach. Not what the compliance industry<br />
wants, more rules, it wants more things to come<br />
in and will keep shoving them in. It’s how they<br />
justify their existence, but they need to justify it<br />
by proving the interventions they put forward<br />
are good for industry and good for the country.’<br />
78 <strong>En</strong> <strong>Voyage</strong> | Aurigny’s Magazine