THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MAGAZINE OF THE ISLE OF MAN

ISSUE 149ISLE OF MAN

CONTENTSDEPARTMENTS

News Government Features Travel Appointments Directory Lifestyle

The latestdevelopments

from some of theIsle of Man’s

leadingorganisations

Initiatives,proposals and

legislation fromthe Isle of Man

Government’s keyDepartments

Expert marketcommentariesfrom leadingprofessionals

within the Island’sprivate sector

A profile of twooff-Island

destinations: onein the BritishIsles and onefurther afield

A comprehensiveround-up of keyspecialist andprofessionalappointments

Island-wide

Airline timetables,a comprehensive

Isle of ManBusiness

Directory plusIsland info & stats

Popular featuresincluding ‘A Weekin the Life’; ‘Q&A’plus local events

and a UK Gig Guide

SPOTLIGHT

Seismic changesin African

economies tobenefit the Island

Page 14

Appointment willsee links

strengthenedwith UK Regions

Page 16

The KPMGeGaming Summit:when the industry

speaks

Page 22

“Robespierre”Osborne and the

PensionRevolution

Page 30

Heart of thematter:

BioMed in theIsle of Man

Page 38

Malaga,cosmopolitancapital of the

Andalusian coast

Page 52

A Week in the Life:Charlie Woolnough,

Co-founder,Coin Corner.com

Page 70

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E: portfolio@manx.net

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ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIOISSUE 149

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News

ISLE OF MAN

Gough Law represented at prestigiousglobal conference

Shortlisted for Power Women Awards

Conference attracts high calibre

Claremont’s Michelin Guide listing

Seismic changes in African economiesto benefit the Island

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Shortlisted for Power Women Awards

harles Coleman, Director at

Gough Law, has been invited

to present at one of the

financial intelligence industry’s most

prestigious events, the OffshoreAlert

3rd Annual European Financial

Intelligence & Investigations

Conference.

Taking place in London’s

Bloomsbury Hotel on 10th and 11th

November, the OffshoreAlert

Conference enables attendees to

establish new contacts and exchange

financial intelligence on offshore

finance including the very latest on

tax initiatives, political issues,

beneficial ownership registries,

financial transparency, and

compliance requirements.

This year’s programme will

encompass the full spectrum of issues

affecting high-value international

finance, including the latest legal,

political, regulatory, compliance and

tax issues, the detection and

prevention of fraud and money

laundering, and asset recovery, all

with an emphasis on offshore

financial centres.

Mr Coleman joins a number of

prestigious speakers presenting on a

series of fascinating titles, including

‘The Magnitsky Murder: A Window

into Russian Money Laundering’,

‘Bitcoin: Its Role in Financial Crime &

How to Trace Transactions Back to

Individuals’, and ‘How I Caught the

Wolf of Wall Street’. Mr Coleman will

himself discuss ‘Offshore Liquidations

& Asset Recovery: Tips for Success’,

during which he will demonstrate

that offshore jurisdictions are

‘different creatures’ in comparison to

their onshore counterparts.

Mr Coleman draws upon

extensive experience acting in

complex and high value financial

services and company disputes, with

specialties in quasi-fraud, investment

and fund failures and high court

injunctions, including asset tracing

and freezing, to provide expert insight

into the peculiarities of offshore

liquidations and asset recovery and

offer a list of 'do's and don'ts' for

creditors and victims of fraud who are

seeking to recover assets.

C

Gough Law represented atprestigious global conference

uth Robinson, Director and

Head of Boston Family Office,

has been shortlisted for the

Citywealth Power Women Awards in

two categories: “Woman of the Year:

Leadership (Professional Services)” and

“Champion of the Year: Mentoring”.

The Power Women awards were

introduced by Citywealth to champion

women in the wealth sector and

highlight the female leaders of today

and tomorrow. They aim to identify

individual females and companies who

support care-giving responsibilities,

female leadership and celebrate

diversity in order to maximise the

potential of women in the wealth sector.

The awards recognise individuals and

companies who maximise the potential

of women in wealth and also create a

platform for best practice to collectively

exercise positive social influence on the

sector.

As Group Director and head of the

Boston Family Office, Ruth is steward to

three generations of the founding

family; the lynchpin that ensures the

entire business is focused upon

satisfying their wider needs and

providing highly specialised guidance to

ensure succeeding generations flourish.

Commenting on her listing, Ruth

Robinson said: “Women play an

instrumental role at Boston and we feel

it is extremely important to promote the

development and role of female

management. As such, I am delighted to

have been recognised as a leading role

model to women in business.”

Katherine Ellis, Group Director at

Boston, said: “Ruth is a tremendous

leader and asset to the Boston Group, a

qualified accountant and a dear friend.

We’re all very proud of her

achievements and this fitting

recognition of her successes.”

Online voting is now open and ends

on 28th November 2014, with the

winners being announced at a

prestigious dinner in London on 22nd

January 2015.

R

Above:Charles Coleman

Above:Ruth Robinson

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Conference attracts high calibreigh profile speakers from the

London Bar, the Midlands Bar,

London law firms and from

the Isle of Man put the latest

developments in trusts, estates and

personal planning in the spotlight.

The Isle of Man branch of the

Society of Trust and Estate

Practitioners’ (STEP) 2014 annual

conference was jointly sponsored by

Simcocks and RL360° and attracted

more than 120 delegates.

One of the highlights of the event

was the reconstruction of a court

application with Elspeth Talbot-Rice

QC, Stephen Moverley-Smith QC and

Andrew Holden from XXIV Old

Buildings. In addition Rupert

Ticehurst, a partner at Berwin

Leighton Paisner LLP discussed the

relationship between a trustee and a

protector, while Claire Murray and

Dhana Sabanathan from McDermott

Will & Emery presented “Around the

Law in 80 Seconds”. Barrister Mark

Hubbard from New Square Chambers

highlighted the Crociani case,

currently being heard before the Privy

Council relating to trust jurisdiction

clauses and John Randall QC from St

Philips Barristers Chambers

considered applications under Section

55 of the Trustee Act 1961. Jeremy

Woolf from Pump Court Tax Chambers

discussed the recent announcements

about changes to the discretionary trust

regime and Dr Malcolm Couch, chief

financial officer of the Treasury

focussed on some of the international

issues currently affecting the Isle of

Man.

Chairman of STEP IOM, Paul

Hotchkiss said: “This year’s event was

superb. The number of attendees grow

year on year and through a

combination of top class speakers,

topical subjects, seamless organisation

I think it is safe to say that the STEP

annual conference has now established

itself as one of the leading events on the

Island for the fiduciary sector.”

H

Claremont’s Michelin Guide listinghe Claremont and Coast are

celebrating its 2015 listing in

the world Famous Michelin

Guide for Hotels and Restaurants,

having undergone a rigorous evaluation

process to earn its place amongst the

world’s finest establishments.

The Michelin Guide for Hotels &

Restaurants in Great Britain and Ireland

is a 100 year-old annual series that

provides a directory of distinguished

establishments. Discerning travelers

looking for great places to eat and stay

reach for the guide, where they’ll find

meticulously researched, objective

recommendations from top industry

experts for over 2,100 restaurants and

over 1,700 hotels.

Each year, full-time Michelin

Inspectors examine hotels and

restaurants using a very refined set of

criteria, whilst remaining anonymous

throughout the duration of their stay.

This includes evaluating the quality of

the overnight visit, the welcome, the

hotel surroundings, every aspect of

service, cleanliness, mastery of

cuisine, and a host of minute details

that set a great hotel apart from a

good one.

For the Claremont and Coast to

earn its place, it was first required to

request a Michelin inspection. Michelin

inspectors choose to only visit and

evaluate establishments of a certain

pedigree and so also took into account

a number of recent Claremont awards,

including an IOM Tourism 4-Star Silver

Award, a UK Hotel Award for interior

design, Awards for Excellence

Company of the Year 2012, and a

finalist’s for the same in 2013. Added to

these are a Michelin 2014 listing, a

TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence,

the Isle of Man’s Leading Hotel Award

from the World Travel Awards and

Coast’s Taste Isle of Man Highest

Quality Assured Award 2014.

Commenting on the accolade,

Managing Director of Sleepwell Hotels,

Mark Wilson, said: “No establishment is

ever told when an inspection may take

place, or who might be visiting, but

with the wonderful team we have in

place as well as the standard of service,

and surrounding after our recent multi-

million pound refurbishment, we were

confident of earning the prestigious

Michelin recognition when we applied.

We are, again, extremely proud to have

been listed and recognised in this

manner, and to represent the Isle of

Man in this prestigious publication.”

T

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Seismic changes in Africaneconomies to benefit the Island

ver forty Isle of Man business

people turned out for a

seminar on the ‘seismic’

developments taking place in Africa,

and the opportunities they present.

The seminar was led by Standard

Bank’s Chief Economist, Goolam

Ballim. In the last decade Africa has

gone from the hopeless continent to a

rising star, meanwhile Europe’s share

of trade with Africa has halved as the

newcomer on the world economic

stage has been courted by China and

India.

Goolam heads up a team of 53

analysts in South Africa and is a highly

respected international economist. He

told the packed seminar, “Most of

Africa is growing at a rate of 5% or

better which is astonishing when you

consider that growth in the rest of the

world is, at best, weak. Even fragile

economies in Africa like Mozambique,

are showing promise. We are seeing

political maturity in many countries

such as Ghana which recently saw a

seamless transition when the

opposition won the election. This kind

of political maturity would have been

very rare and hard to perceive just a

short while ago.” He explained proof of

the ascendance of Africa’s economic

prospects comes in the form of the

developing middle class who are

mutually supportive of socio-economic

and political development across

Africa, spurring foreign investment

and creating a positive transformation.

Goolam highlighted eleven nations

within Africa where the middle class is

rising fast, Nigeria is leading the pack

and over the next 15 years it’s

estimated there will be a further seven

million households classified as middle

class in that country alone. Even

countries which have been ravaged by

war and are seen as risky, such as

Angola, will see big rises. It’s estimated

Angola’s middle class will rise from the

1.2 to 1.3 million it is today, and around

33% of the population, to around 45%

by 2030.

Goolam believes it’s the people in

Africa who will drive the growth:

“Another seismic dimension is Africa’s

population which in 1980 was roughly

10% of humanity, but by 2050 it’s

estimated that one in four humans will

be African, while in contrast China’s

population appears to be reducing in

relative terms. The other factor is it is

an exceptionally youthful population,

the median age of an African is 20, the

median age of a European is 40. While

Europe and Asian countries such as

Japan struggle with an increasingly

dependent and ageing population,

Africa has a growing working age

population. Over the last decade

roughly 40% of Africa’s growth can be

explained by people being able to work

and being productive in the economy.”

The seminar was hosted by Jason

Gaines of Standard Bank’s Isle of Man

Corporate and Business Banking team.

He said: “We have to look to new

markets if we want to grow our

economy, and Africa is without doubt

the rising international star. It is

however also a difficult world to

penetrate and each of the countries in

the continent is different. Whilst the

risk appetite of many counterparties

has decreased, as Africa’s largest bank

the continent is our specialism.

Goolam emphasised how imperative it

is that you understand the local market

conditions, know who to talk to and

how to talk to them, and that’s where

we can help. We cannot ignore Africa

and her potential, or we will run the

risk of being left behind by the Chinese

and Indians who are investing heavily

in the continent.”

O

Below:Goolam Ballim

Government

ISLE OF MAN

Appointment will see linksstrengthened with UK Regions

Visit of Scottish Government Minister

Public views sought onPermitted Development Order

Facilities for crafts and engineeringwill benefit economy

Super users of Instagramhit the Isle of Man

Development Brief publishedfor former prison site

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aul will be responsible for

managing the development

and implementation of a

programme designed to generate

additional business for the Isle of Man

through strengthening our business

links with the UK regions, particularly

the North of England, Scotland and

Northern Ireland.

He will also be working closely

with existing financial services

businesses on the Island to help

develop and improve the Isle of Man’s

competitive proposition to ensure

their continued success.

In this article, Paul highlights the

importance of driving new business

opportunities with the UK regions and

why his appointment builds on the

Department’s recent initiatives this

year to strengthen ties with the UK

regions.

“The Isle of Man is increasingly

being seen as an international

business centre of standing. Our

geographical proximity to the UK and

sharing of the same language,

currency, time zones, along with

plentiful transport links provides the

Isle of Man with a formidable

proposition to offer the UK regions,

particularly the North of England,

Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“It was these ties that determined

that the Department would lead a

significant Public/Private sector

delegation at the International

Festival for Business in Liverpool

earlier this year, with 50 local

companies working with us – a real

‘Team Isle of Man’ approach.

“During the festival, my colleague

John Garland, head of Corporate

Financial Services at DED was

fortunate to be invited on to a panel

event at the UKBAA (UK Business

Angels Association) Investment

Summit at St Georges Hall. In turn,

this has led Steve and Jenny to visit

the Isle of Man to speak at the next

Junior Chamber of Commerce event

during November.

“As well as significant

opportunities generated there has

been further relationship building as

a result of our presence at the Festival

and growing awareness of what we

can offer the UK. The Financial

Services team has also supported the

Island’s Fund Management sector at

events in Scotland and the North of

England and the Department signed

Memorandums of Understanding

with Northern Ireland’s Department

of Enterprise and Liverpool Vision.

“My primary focus is to build on

these successes and help build the

Isle of Man’s profile in UK regions and

build awareness of the Isle of Man as

an international business centre

which can continue to benefit the UK.

This creates a ‘win-win’ situation with

the Island helping in the creation of

FDI into the UK regions as well as

developing business opportunities for

itself, which will help deliver to

targets in line with Government’s

Vision2020 strategy.

“The Isle of Man’s business links

with the UK are spread across

different sectors and regions,

meaning that different regions hold

different opportunities for the Island,

and the Department’s strategy will

reflect this diversity.

“We are looking to create a

number of new opportunities of

varying scale within the UK regions,

which will bring together financial

intermediaries and investors so that

we can explain how the Isle of Man

can work with them for mutual

benefit.

“Isle of Man based organisations

will be asked to assist in these

opportunities and this is one of my

first tasks as I get my teeth into the

new role.

“On a personal note I’m really

looking forward to the challenge of

delivering what promises to be

challenging but potential very

rewarding strategy for the Isle of Man.

“I’m lucky enough to live and

work in the Isle of Man and can often

see right across the Irish Sea to

Scotland, Ireland and North West

England on a clear day. How apt then,

that I will be looking to develop even

closer ties with these regions, and

with others, over the next year!”

Links to be strengthenedwith UK RegionsThe Department of Economic Development announced recently that

Paul Maddocks had been appointed as a Business DevelopmentManager in its Financial Services team.

P

Isle of Man basedorganisations will beasked to assist inopportunities [in UKregions] and this is oneof my first tasks as Iget my teeth into thenew role.

ISLE OF MAN

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Visit of ScottishGovernment MinisterThe Isle of Man Government has continued to build relations with theIsland’s neighbours by hosting a visit from the Scottish Minister for

Energy, Enterprise and Tourism Fergus Ewing MSP.

he visit, on 22nd and 23rd

October, explored areas of

potential collaboration

between the two countries in the

fields of energy, tourism and

international trade.

Hosted by the Department of

Economic Development, the visit

included meetings with DED Minister

Laurence Skelly MHK and

Department officials. Minister Ewing

also met Chief Minister Allan Bell

MHK who has led the development of

the Island’s relations with the Scottish

Government through his interaction

with the Scottish First Minister Alex

Salmond.

T

Left:Fergus Ewing MSPand Chief MinisterAllan Bell

Public views sought onPermitted Development Order

Public feedback is being sought on a proposal aimed at providinggreater freedom within the Isle of Man planning system

he Department of

Infrastructure has launched a

consultation on legislation to

extend the scope of the Permitted

Development Order regarding the

temporary use or development of

land.

The intention is to remove the

need to apply for planning approval

for short-term changes of use, subject

to certain criteria being met. For

example, this could apply to land used

to accommodate temporary events

such as car boot sales, fairs, sports

events, community celebrations or

certain temporary development

during construction.

As well as making the system

quicker and simpler for householders,

businesses, land owners and event

organisers, the proposed change

would allow the Planning Department

to focus on more strategic issues.

The consultation is part of a broader

review of aspects of the planning

system and continues a process started

a couple of years ago to extend the

permitted development regime.

Chris Thomas MHK, DoI Member

with responsibility for Planning and

Building Control, said: “There are

many events and activities which take

place on a temporary basis, either to

support community or sporting events

or construction during approved

development.

“In some cases these will be small

and after the event the site will revert

to the previous use with no lasting

impact. Other uses may be more

substantial, have a significant economic

benefit and take place over a longer

period in connection with events such

as the TT or Southern 100 for instance,

but which nonetheless may be

considered relatively uncontentious.”

He added: ‘Planning is important. It

should support Government’s priorities

and balance development for everyone.

The current proposal potentially

provides for increased freedom to

make use of land and premises on a

temporary basis, within carefully

considered parameters. We will take on

board public feedback and I would

encourage as many people as possible

to respond to the consultation.’

The consultation document is

available to view on the Government

website at www.gov.im

TLeft:Chris Thomas MHK

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n a £4.9 million project,

engineering has moved out of the

main College building in

Homefield Road to newly refurbished

premises in the former Water Authority

treatment works in nearby Greenfield

Road. Courses began there this term.

The space vacated at the main

College site is being turned into a

bespoke training area for the four main

construction crafts – brickwork, joinery,

painting and decorating and plumbing.

That part of the project is scheduled for

completion next July.

Tim Crookall MHK, Minister for

Education and Children, will officially

open the new engineering centre on

Wednesday 12th November.

It houses courses in electrical,

mechanical and motor vehicle

engineering.

Its creation will allow the College to:

• provide secondary students with

enhanced opportunities to study

vocational subjects

• train more HGV specialists on-

Island and develop ‘green’

engineering and motor vehicle

curriculum initiatives

• provide laboratories for the testing

of engineering materials and the

building of electronic devices

• replicate realistic workshop

environments where individuals can

work on industry-standard equipment

such as computer numerical control

machines, engine analysers and

electrical switchboards.

The Minister said: “Education

seeks to support the Island’s economy

by equipping students with skills for

life and the workplace and the Isle of

Man College of Further and Higher

Education plays a vital role in this.

“With a view to better meeting the

needs of the community and economy,

we are extending the range of further

and higher education courses and

improving the quality and range of

vocational options. We are also

broadening the school curriculum to

provide more opportunities for applied

and vocational learning.

“The creation of these modern

training facilities is a big step towards

achieving those aims.”

Previously, training in engineering

and construction crafts was spread

across three bases in different parts of

the Island. This development brings

students and lecturers within easy

proximity and has freed up the other

buildings for new uses.

The new engineering base will be

named the William Kennish

Engineering Centre after the

Manxman (1799-1862) whose

inventions included the predecessor of

the gun turret and who discovered the

first canal route without locks to link

the Pacific and the Atlantic – paving the

way, some 40 years later, for the

Panama Canal.

Clifford Kennish and Dana Kennish

Smith, William’s great great grandsons,

are travelling from America with their

wives to attend the opening.

The Minister said: “It will be special

to link engineering past and present by

having direct descendants of Mr

Kennish present.”

Facilities for crafts andengineering will benefit economy

I

Improved facilities for engineering and construction crafts at the Isleof Man College of Further and Higher Education will allow more

students to access a wider range of training, benefiting the economy.

Above:William Kennish

(photo courtesy ofRobert W Stimpson):

Right: The William KennishEngineering Centre

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ith just under 1.5 million

followers between them,

Finn Beales (@finn), Jiri

Siftar (@jeera), Dan Rubin

(@Danrubin) and Adrienne Pitts

(@hellopoe) are four of the most

influential personalities on Instagram.

The photographers spent two days

exploring the Island from countryside

to coastline, posting a selection of

stunning images to document their

journey. Between them, their pictures

received over 205,000 likes and a total

of 1630 comments.

David Cretney MHK,

the Political Member in

the Department of

Economic Development

with responsibility for

Tourism and Motorsport

said: “The Isle of Man

InstaMeet was

supported by the

Department to promote

the Island directly to

consumers through

social media. The four

photographers uploaded

their images using the

hashtag #isleofman

meaning anyone

searching the tag on

Instagram will come

across the inspirational

images easily.

“The initiative reflects the greater

emphasis we are putting on

promoting the Island through digital

channels, although we are still

running advertising as well as a

comprehensive PR programme

which has been very successful this

year. As well as the Instameet, a

monthly Visit Isle of Man e-

newsletter goes out to 82,000 people

featuring special offers, events and

details of heritage attractions and

leisure activities.”

Dan Rubin, one of the

Instagrammers visiting the Island,

said: “I was part of last year’s Isle of

Man InstaMeet and couldn’t wait to

return to the Island for a second year

running. The Island is a

photographer’s delight with huge

varieties of landscape, stunning

seaside vistas, and eye-catching

townscapes packed in to a small and

easily accessible area.”

To see the images from the trip

visit intagram.com and search for

#isleofman or go to the Visit Isle of

Man Facebook page.

Super users of Instagramhit the Isle of Man

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Some of the leading users of social media site Instagram havereturned to the Isle of Man for a second time to photograph the

wildlife, panoramas, towns and people in all their glory.

he Brief, which is available to

view on the Government

website, provides interim

planning guidance to potential

developers, pending the preparation of

the Area Plan for the East.

Suitable uses which are to be

encouraged include residential

developments - which may incorporate

affordable housing, sheltered

accommodation or day care facilities -

or uses identified in the existing

Douglas Local Plan, such as a church.

Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne

MHK said: “Our intention is to support

redevelopment that will best serve the

needs of the local community and also

reflect Government’s national

priorities. This is a prominent site in

Douglas and potential developers will

have to demonstrate a high quality

design that will contribute positively to

the visual amenity of the surrounding

area.”

The Development Brief takes into

account feedback generated during a

six-week public consultation

undertaken earlier this year. A total of

68 responses were received, featuring

a range of opinions on how best to

utilise the Government-owned site,

which faces on to Victoria Road,

Victoria Avenue and Poplar Terrace.

The land has been vacant since

2013 when the old Victoria Road prison,

which operated from April 1891 to

August 2008, was demolished and the

two-acre site cleared for

redevelopment.

Minister Gawne said: “There has

been a lot of public interest in the

future of this site and I’d like to thank

all those who responded to the

consultation. This feedback helped to

inform the Development Brief.”

Development Brief publishedfor former prison site

TThe Department of Infrastructure has published a Development Brief

setting out its vision for the future redevelopment of the formerVictoria Road prison site in Douglas.

Features

ISLE OF MAN

The KPMG eGaming Summit:when the industry speaks

Point of Consumption vs. dot.com

IOM QROPS and International Pensions

“Robespierre” Osborne’s Pension Revolution

Real telecoms choice for Island businesses

Market Jitters - a sense of reality?

Risk vs return: the investment conundrum

BioMed in the Isle of Man

Where there’s a will, is there a way out?

The Media, and how to talk to them

Whistleblowing: traitor or selfless martyr?

Damages based agreements: the wayforward for the Isle of Man?

New broadband service up to 80 Mbps

SNX strengthens through collaboration

hen the industry speaks,

we listen.” Such

concluded The Hon.

John Shimmin MHK’s opening

address at the 2013 KPMG eGaming

Summit, and such are KPMG’s

sentiments as we look forward to the

fifth installment of the celebrated Isle

of Man series.

In many ways, it is this sentiment

that has defined the Isle of Man’s

approach to the eGaming industry

since it became one of the world’s first

territories to introduce legislation

specific to eGaming in 2001. The Isle

of Man has capitalised upon its

responsive commercial environment,

world leading power and

telecommunications infrastructure,

and pioneering approach to

regulatory and licensing initiatives to

become one of the world’s most

admired eGaming jurisdictions.

Today, it is home to some of the

industry’s leading operators, software

providers, data specialists, payments

providers, and other ancillary

industries, each coming together to

form a cluster of eGaming concerns

that is fast becoming the archetype

model for a wider eBusiness

economy.

As a global hub of innovation and

regulatory excellence, which places

consumer protection and professional

support at its heart; the Isle of Man

has led from the fore. The jurisdiction

and those proud to call it home are

uncompromising in their efforts to

look to the future of the industry, to

respond to its challenges and to

exploit every opportunity, but to do so

within a broader, global context. This

is, after all, one of the world’s most

fast moving, agile and portable

industries. But it is for this reason that

a single development can have

worldwide repercussions with the

potential to ripple through every facet

of the market, both licensed and

unlicensed. The answer, as with all

maturing markets, is communication.

In an industry where governments,

international bodies, regulators,

operators, ancillary providers and

customers work in such close

proximity and with apparently mutual

goals, communication is the only way

to ensure transparency, education

and, ultimately, the protection of the

consumer and market they operate

within.

It gives me great pleasure,

therefore, to detail the programme for

this year’s KPMG eGaming Summit

Isle of Man and to announce a new

addition to our already celebrated

lineup. This year, KPMG is very proud

to have partnered with the

International Masters of Gaming Law

(IMGL) to provide a series of three

IMGL Masterclass presentations

featuring a selection of the industry’s

most prominent thought leaders.

Representing 41 countries through

335 members, the IMGL is the world’s

pre-eminent global gambling law

networking and educational

organisation, shaping the future of

gaming law in sectors ranging from

cross border regulation, legislative

affairs and education, to taxation,

compliance and terrestrial gaming.

On Monday 10th November at the

W

The KPMG eGaming Summit:when the industry speaks

The Isle of Man andthose proud to call ithome areuncompromising intheir efforts to look tothe future of theindustry, to respond toits challenges and toexploit everyopportunity, but to doso within a broader,global context.

With the return of the KPMG eGaming Summit this year comes theopportunity for the Isle of Man’s key stakeholders to evaluate and

discuss the global eGaming sector, the challenges it has facedover the course of 2014, and the opportunities the year presents.

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By Russell Kelly,Director responsible for eGaming,

KPMG

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Claremont, this year’s

Summit will commence

with a smaller, invite only

introductory Masterclass

before the Summit proper

begins on Tuesday 11th at

the Villa Marina. This

widely anticipated event will see

esteemed moderator Joerg Hofmann,

Senior Partner at Melchers and

President of IMGL Germany join

panelists Steve Brennan of the IOM

Gambling Supervision Commission,

Birgitte Sand of the Danish Gambling

Authority, Commissioner of the

California Gaming Control

Commission Richard Schuetz and

Jenny Williams, Commissioner of the

UK Gambling Commission to discuss

cross-border cooperation by

regulators. As many in the industry

are aware, particularly as the

prospect of US federal regulation still

looms and pan-European regulatory

standards remain on the horizon, this

represents a topic of particular

pertinence to the global market. It

raises issues not just of commercial

ideology and government policy, but

also those of enforcement and, of

course, continued innovation. As

Peter Kjaer, CEO of HoGaming,

remarked at last year’s installment,

this is, after all, the internet: “there’s

no stopping the industry, but what

government regulation can offer

players is the confidence to

differentiate between the operators

available to them”. I have no doubt

our distinguished panel will shed

some light on the latest developments

towards meeting this goal.

The main event will once again

open with a welcome address, this

time kindly provided by Minister

Laurence Skelly, which will provide

an overview of the Isle of Man

Government’s approach to supporting

and growing the Island’s globally

renowned sector. Quirino

Mancini, Partner at SCM

Lawyers will then discuss

the controversial image of

gaming in the face of the

media and public opinion

and what, if anything, the

industry is doing to redress it. As Head

of Media, Sports and Gaming Practice,

Mr Mancini brings unrivalled market

experience to the table, and will no

doubt provide penetrating insight in

to what is one of the gaming

industry’s most slippery and long-

standing of obstacles to wider

education and acceptance. A sector

specific update will follow, during

which the Department of Economic

Development’s Director for e-

business Peter Greenhill and Chief

Executive of the Isle of Man Gambling

Supervision Commission will address

the challenges and opportunities

facing today’s local sector. This staple

of the Summit series is the perfect

opportunity to review the Island’s

market proposition, and to look into

the pipeline of future business before

Following this year’slaunch of CryptoValley, the Isle ofMan’s developmentincubator forregistered and ethicalcrypto-currencybusiness, it has beendifficult not toconceive of a future inwhich this technologymight play a major partin the gaminglandscape.

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ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIO ISSUE 149

we analyse the specifics of the

industry.

Perhaps no topic is more unique to

the Island’s proposition this year as

the potential marriage between

gaming operators and

cryptocurrencies. Following this

year’s launch of Crypto Valley, the Isle

of Man’s development incubator for

registered and ethical crypto-

currency business, it has been

difficult not to conceive of a future in

which this technology might play a

major part in the gaming landscape.

Even during last year’s panel

discussion concerning the future of

payments in the online world, Bitcoin

and its decentralised descendants

played a major part, and I have no

doubt that this year’s discussion,

entitled ‘Gaming Operators and

Cryptocurrencies’, will be just as

lively.

In a similar vein, KPMG’s Head of

eGaming, Archie Watt will then join

representatives of the sector’s leading

payments providers to moderate a

discussion which tackles some of

today’s transactional challenges in a

discussion entitled ‘Dodging the

Brussels Bullets – Payment

Processors’ Priorities’. Encompassing

the intricacies of e-payments,

compliance, fraud, identity

verification and cross-border

regulation, amongst others, the

discussion is sure to enlighten

delegates on the fine balance between

security, efficiency and growth in the

sector.

Following a lunch break, the first

of the day’s much anticipated IMGL

Master-classes, tackling the

implications of operating in part-

regulated and non-regulated online

gaming markets, will see Wulf

Hambach, Partner at Hambach &

Hambach, Germany, join panelists

Susannah Fitzgerald, Q.C., Barrister

at Lord Grabiner's Chambers, United

Kingdom and Nick Nocton of Jeffrey

Green Russell, United Kingdom.

KPMG is very proud to present this

distinguished panel, which could not

be better placed to discuss this topic

as industry consolidation and an

increasingly fragmented regulatory

landscape force some to engage with

the peripheries of the market.

Paul Leyland of Regulus Partners,

an erudite and regular series

contributor, will then present ‘50

Shades of Grey: Point of consumption

licensing and the future of the dot

com model’. Following the much

publicised developments concerning

the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming

Association’s ongoing challenge of the

UK Gambling Act and its Point of

Consumption Tax requirements, this

discussion is certain to provoke

significant discussion and illuminate

some of the many complexities

operators now face in matching their

technological and administrative

infrastructure with what could be the

future of taxation for e-commerce.

KPMG is very pleased to announce

that Bill Gantz of Dentons US LLP,

Massachusetts, will then join the final

IMGL Masterclass, with a panel

including Bill Mummery of Celton

Manx, Hilary Stewart-Jones of DLA

Piper and Ernest C. Matthews IV,

President/General Counsel at ISI –

Maritime/Islands to moderate a

discussion on the US regulatory

scheme and the emerging market

issues. A trial lawyer with diverse

experience representing

manufacturing, technology, Internet,

online gambling and entertainment

clients in litigation, licensing and

intellectual property matters

nationwide, Mr Gantz has actively

represented the Internet gaming

sector since 2002 in patent

infringement, commercial litigation

and compliance matters (including

the Unlawful Internet Gambling

Enforcement Act). I have no doubt

that his extensive experience,

coupled with the global expertise of

our panelists, will provide significant

insight into the regulatory,

commercial and political

complexities of federal licensing

within one of the world’s potentially

most lucrative online gaming

markets. “We will all end up as

operators with the regulators we

deserve”, stated Ms Hilary-Jones

during last year’s eGaming Summit,

“and I think there has been

reluctance on behalf of the industry to

information share”. Perhaps this

year’s KPMG eGaming Summit will

take the industry another step closer

to informing the future of the dynamic

and exciting industry on our own

terms.

• For more information about our

Summits, visit www.kpmg.co.im and

search for ‘eGaming Summit’, or visit

www.whereyoucan.im. A full report of

the day’s events will be published due,

once again, to the support of

Continent 8 Technologies.

The KPMG eGaming Summit: when the industry speaks

Right:Speakers and panellists from

the 2013 KPMG eGaming Summit

ome companies structure

themselves for the relatively

light touch of ‘point of supply’

regulation, such as that found in the

Isle of Man. The trend, however, is

toward ‘point of consumption’; in

Europe (Italy, Spain, Denmark, now

UK) and elsewhere (most notably

Nevada and New Jersey in the US).

For land-based operators ‘point of

consumption’ has been a given for as

long as gambling licensing has

existed.

In the remote world, Point of

Consumption tax and licensing

generates four significant operational

changes, almost wherever it is found:

1. Varying types of product and

marketing are restricted

2. Specific regulatory requirements

must be followed (e.g. KYC, spend

limits, systems location)

3. Tax appears as a material cost item

4. Competition arrives from

domestic incumbents not hitherto

online

Point of Consumption therefore

costs on nearly every level. As a rule

of thumb only the top three to six

operators from a market share

perspective will make much profit.

The trouble is at least one of those is

likely to be a local incumbent and

another a disruptor brand. This leaves

precious little room for the hordes of

dot.com operators which previously

plied their quiet but highly cash-

generative trade prior to the

jurisdiction introducing regulation.

From 2010 to about 2013

‘dot.national’ was promoted as not

only safer revenue but also high

growth. Companies and the

commentariat peddled the myth that

vast swathes of customers previously

put off by the illicit nature of dot.com

gambling would flock to a ‘more legal’

site proudly flying a national flag. Not

only did that hopeful strategy dodge

basic common sense, it also ignored

the fact that gambling revenue is

nearly always concentrated in the

hands of a core group of actives, who

are not only already gambling

remotely but would also likely react

adversely to undue levels of

regulatory interference (e.g. banning

their favourite products).

As reality has offered up its grim

grey dawn, focus has moved from the

sunlight uplands of ‘dot.national’

revenue potential to the dark valley of

regulatory-driven margin decline.

Ironically ‘grey’ is back in vogue.

There is growth - especially in Asia.

There is cash flow - especially when

the shade of grey verges on

anthracite. And there has been an

absence of serious enforcement in the

sector for a while. In business, as in

the markets, ‘cash is king’ – so what’s

not to like?

There are two things not to like:

First, regulation will arrive at

some point. It might take a long time.

It will inevitably be a tortured process.

It will definitely be political (vide

South Africa’s shock proposal to move

S

Fifty Shades of Grey:Point of Consumption vs. dot.com

Tax and regulation are critical to the gambling sector. How acompany deals with these key business drivers will shape its riskprofile, reputation and investment potential. The issues are both

complex and profound. Current binary assumptions on theattractiveness or otherwise of regulated vs. ‘grey market’ revenue

are therefore dangerous to the sector.

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By Paul Leyland,Regulus Partners

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from a potentially liberal regulation

approach to an outright ban). So long

as there is nothing explicitly illegal

either in the underlying activity or the

form of extraction (often where the

real risk sits in ‘grey’ markets), then

taking the money is a logical choice.

But it might not last. So you can’t build

long-term investment plan on it, you

can’t have your ongoing costs relying

on it and you certainly can’t (or

shouldn’t) leverage it. So it should be

low multiple – not because it is

immoral or naughty but because the

uses of funds are more limited than

‘normal’ regulated business.

Second, ‘grey’ can often be a

euphemism. The example which

should be most scary is the excuse

that there is no history of

enforcement. This would be cold

comfort if enforcement started. It

would be colder comfort if

enforcement started with you.

Countries starting to enforce their

(albeit antiquated, confused and, yes,

grey) gambling laws are sometimes

referred to as ‘black swan’ events.

This would be a fair analogy if all

swans were black. To suggest that

countries are not likely to behave

suddenly, unpredictably and in force

against perceived gambling issues is

to wilfully ignore the lessons of

history.

Regulated businesses have

problems of their own. Rather than

facing a small(ish) risk of a big shock,

they face the constant threat of (often

politicised) regulatory meddling. This

also creates business and investment

risk which both companies and

operators are often ill equipped to

deal with. Being regulated does not

mean being safe: once in a regulated

jurisdiction a company must manage

its regulator and political

stakeholders as well as its reputation

much more carefully than dot.com or

even ‘normal’ businesses. For a good

example of what failure to do this

looks like consider the current UK

gaming machine situation in betting

shops.

In recent years gambling

companies have liked to praise or

condemn each other for their

operational prowess. Perhaps the new

benchmark should be their ability to

predict and influence regulatory

outcomes. This requires new skills,

different talents and probably a new

breed of gambling executives.

Regulated businesseshave problems of theirown. Rather thanfacing a small(ish) riskof a big shock, theyface the constantthreat of (oftenpoliticised) regulatorymeddling. This alsocreates business andinvestment risk whichboth companies andoperators are often illequipped to deal with.

he Isle of Man has become a

key location for offshore

pensions. The growth of

international schemes has been

significant over the past few years.

However the loosening of UK pensions

arrangements has begun to remove

many of the advantages of home grown

Isle of Man pensions in the QROPS (UK

HMRC registered) market.

These Qualifying Registered

Offshore Pension Schemes are

designed for UK expatriates who have

residual pensions in the UK but work

outside Britain. The Conservatives in

the UK are proposing to do away with

the so called “death tax” of 55% on

UK pensions. The Isle of Man

equivalent is 7.5%; which was very

competitive at the time. The biggest

concern of the Isle of Man operating

successfully in all areas as an

Offshore International Financial

Centre must be the prospect of the UK

Government realising the basic

principles of the Laffer Curve and

securing a mandate to implement

same. The Laffer curve effectively

demonstrates the law of diminishing

returns in tax revenues the more tax

rates are increased see fig 1.

It is of note that the Isle of Man

increased the retirement age to 55

(from 50) in 2008 in response to a

tightening of UK pension rules. Now

the UK proposes to allow unlimited

pension withdrawals which would be

made subject to the marginal rates of

tax of the beneficiary. UK Treasury

are delighted with the response of this

initiative which in effect bribes voters

with access to their own money as

well as lifting short term tax revenues

handily just before the next UK

election. The effect of these changes

has had the effect of subduing

demand for QROPS in all Offshore

T

Isle of Man QROPS andInternational Pensions

“The government cannot give to anybody anything that thegovernment does not first take from somebody else.”

Adrian Rogers

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ISLE OF MAN

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By Tim Boles,Managing Director,

Equilibrium Pensions

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Fig 1

Financial Centres, since arguably the

best place for a QROPS is the UK if the

Conservatives are successful in the

next UK election! An unintended

consequence of the perceived

advantage of having an independent

Isle of Man Regulator with bespoke

rules and regulations that

occasionally dip into UK legislation is

that the required reporting standards

are significantly more onerous than

the UK equivalent. This makes even

simple personal schemes more

expensive to run and administer. The

Retirement Benefits Schemes Act

2000 aims at offering international

pensions in a regulated environment.

The Act was followed by the

accompanying Retirement Benefit

Regulations, which are certainly

overdue an overhaul so as to re-

establish the competitive advantage

over other jurisdictions and even the

UK itself.

But the demand for Isle of Man

international pension schemes i.e.

non UK orientated continues. They

sell in emerging markets including

Singapore, Hong Kong, and in the

Middle East. They also win business

in South Africa, and Europe.

The rapid rise in international

corporate schemes has happened

partly because of cost savings, but

also product suitability. HR Heads

who want to set up pensions over long

periods for employees who move to

several jurisdictions within the same

organisation may benefit from

economies of scale.

Flexibility is another major

advantage. There are minimal limits

on contributions and the benefits

which may be taken, the age of

receiving them, and employees are

not forced to buy annuities. There is a

choice of currencies and the

jurisdiction offers a secure AA rating.

The Isle of Man’s authorities receive

no tax revenue from the international

schemes.

The Isle of Man’s advantages are

so significant that they have

convinced many South Africans to

entrust pension assets to one of the

administrators which have begun to

do business since 2001. South Africa’s

laws currently allow its residents to

receive, subject to meeting the

criteria, tax-free income from an

overseas pension scheme. The Isle of

Man has won business from South

African citizens who currently work

outside their home jurisdiction with

the aim of retiring to South Africa, and

have decided to place their pension

assets on the Isle of Man.

South Africa’s leading companies

have also chosen the Isle of Man for

international corporate pension

schemes, a Johannesburg-based

mining business among them. It

employs engineers in countries

including Chile, Ghana, Dubai,

Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as

well as South Africa Itself. The

company chose the Isle of Man as its

base for an international corporate

scheme after analysing costs, the

zero-tax environment, and the ability

to select its currency - US dollars.

When a senior engineer moved from

Chile to Dubai, his pension

contributions arrived from the new

location. But the HR manager had no

headache over the pension aspect of

the senior engineer’s move.

But one puzzle remains. If

Advisers view the Isle of Man as a

good place for International Pensions

even if the entire offshore QROPS

arena has faded, the only enigma,

then, is this.

Why is the Isle of Man still the

offshore pension market’s best-kept

secret?

ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIOISSUE 149

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But the demand forIsle of Maninternational pensionschemes i.e. non UKorientated continues.They sell in emergingmarkets includingSingapore, Hong Kong,and in the Middle East.They also win businessin South Africa, andEurope.

““

’m reading Hilary Mantel’s “A

Place of Greater Safety”, set in

French Revolutionary Paris. It

is classic Mantel, documenting a

period that spans radical religious,

social and political upheaval,

populated by engaging historical

figures.

I’ve also been reading HM

Treasury’s March 2014 Consultation,

“Freedom and choice in pensions”

and would like to say it is similarly

gripping, but not even a lawyer could

say that with a straight face.

However, the reforms in the latter

documents are genuinely significant

(dare I say historic) and, if adopted in

the Isle of Man (IOM), have the

potential to radically change the way

you think about your pension savings

in the longer term.

In particular, there is a notable

zealous tone to both the initial

Consultation document and the

subsequent response published in

July 2014. In effect, the proposed

pension reforms champion the

freedom of the individual to be master

of their destiny.

They seek to unshackle the

individual from the tyranny of the

annuity that has long reigned over us.

They urge us to tear down the

oppressive edifices of a long-standing

and unreformed tax regime that

corrals us into securing an income for

life and inhibits our freedom to spend

our hard earned cash as we like.

Obviously, the Consultation isn’t

quite in these terms (I’m channeling

my inner Mantel) but the

revolutionary sentiments are there.

To quote Osborne: “This Government

believes in the principle of freedom...

Individuals who have worked hard

and saved responsibly throughout

their adult life should be trusted to

make their own decisions with their

pension savings and the reforms I

announced at Budget will deliver just

that... the annuities market is

currently not working in the best

interests of all consumers... I want as

many people as possible to be able to

access their pension flexibly... these

major reforms amount to the biggest

changes to savings for a generation...

this is the most fundamental change

to how people can access their

pension in nearly a century.”

This stuff is worthy of Robespierre

in full flow at the Jacobin Club. Just

as the French Revolution disrupted

long established and self-interested

conventions (the abolition of

feudalism and a shift in power from

Church to State), Osborne sees

himself as standing up for the

common man against the

institutional power of insurance

providers whose vested interests are

ingrained in a tax system that favours

a wholly annuitised retirement. And,

like Robespierre, he knows the mob

are with him (annuity rates

repeatedly get a bad press) and he’s

not afraid to spill blood in the process

(one client’s shares fell by over 50 per

cent following the Budget

announcement).

So what is the big change and

what are the implications for the

IOM? In short, it is about the way

income is delivered from a defined

contribution pension plan (a DC

plan). DC Plans were always obliged

to purchase an annuity that provides

an ‘income for life’. This requirement

has long been hardwired into tax

legislation and dates back to the UK

Finance Act 1921. However, in

response to falling annuity rates,

‘pension drawdown’ was introduced

in the UK in 1995 as an alternative

way of drawing pension income, but

the rate of drawdown was limited and

could not be sustained beyond age 75

(and latterly age 77), at which point

an annuity had to be purchased.

By 6 April 2011, drawdown had

developed so that a DC plan need not

purchase an annuity at age 77. It

could, instead, offer two options: a

“capped drawdown” arrangement

which limits the annual income, or a

“flexible drawdown” arrangement

which allows a higher rate of

drawdown but requires a minimum

level of annual income.

Taking these in turn, capped

drawdown allows a DC plan to

I

“Robespierre” Osborneand the Pension Revolution:its implications forIsle of Man pensions

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By Ben Hughes,Divisional Director,

Insurance and Pensions Department,Cains

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provide annual pension drawdown

capped at a percentage of the annuity

rates published by the Government

Actuary’s Department (the GAD rate).

Up to March 2013, the rate was 100%

and between March 2013 and March

2014, the rate was 120 per cent of the

GAD rate. With regard to flexible

drawdown, the pre-2014 Budget

required an individual to have a

guaranteed income of £20,000 per

annum.

Therefore, notwithstanding the

development of drawdown post age

77, the UK government still retained

significant safeguards to avoid

individuals being a burden on the

State. But this changed with the 2014

Budget. First, transitional measures

were introduced to allow drawdown

to rise from 120 per cent to 150 per

cent of the GAD rate from 27 March

2014.

Additionally, the minimum

income requirement dropped from

£20,000 to £12,000 per annum. Then,

from April 2015, individuals with DC

plan savings will be able to draw on

their funds “whenever and however

they wish after the age of 55”

(paragraph 3.13, of the Consultation).

This new regime will have the snappy

title of “flexi-access drawdown”.

Obviously, the fact that a UK DC

plan is no longer obliged to provide a

‘pension for life’ is a genuinely

significant change. The guiding

principles of the last 100 years are

being cast aside in favour of the rights

of the individual. It all feels very

“Declaration of the Rights of Man and

the Citizen” (but, as I say, they’re

calling it “flexi-access drawdown”).

So, will you in the IOM benefit

from our neighbour’s Revolution?

Well that is all very unclear. For a

start, IOM Treasury are a cautious

bunch and this is a radical step. The

freedom to drawdown as much of

your pension as you like could well

invite the profligacy that an annuity is

uniquely disposed to avoid.

Furthermore, this is a potentially

bigger issue for the IOM than the UK

whose higher marginal tax rates will

act as a disincentive for those wishing

to drawdown all of their pension

savings over a short period of time.

Therefore, UK Pensioner Minister

Steven Webb’s rather flippant

comment about pensioners

purchasing Lamborghinis may be

more pertinent to the IOM than to the

UK. Interestingly, Webb’s justification

for that comment was that revisions to

the State Pension were such that he

felt “relaxed about how people use

their own money”.

If the IOM Government is going to

follow the UK’s lead on pension

reform, a number of considerations

arise. The absence of inheritance

taxes and higher marginal tax rates

mean the IOM Government will

either have to (a) be even more

‘relaxed’ about the prospect of IOM

residents ending up on the State

pension, or (b) satisfied that the

number of IOM residents who do end

up on welfare due to mismanagement

of their pensions will not effect a

material strain on future Treasury

resources.

In this regard, the IOM

Government is now engaged in a

review of its State pension provision.

This encompasses the “Big Debate”

(launched 15 September) and the

commissioning of more granular

analysis by consultancy firm Ci65 as

to the sustainability of the IOM’s

welfare and social security systems.

Additionally, other aspects of the IOM

tax regime will need to be weaved

into Treasury’s final position on the

UK pension reforms, not least (i) the

cap on income tax charges (£120,000

p.a.), (ii) the generous annual

allowance of up to £300,000 p.a. of tax

free pension contributions, and (iii)

the lack of a cap on pension benefits

(as per the UK’s lifetime allowance).

Finally, there are wider IOM plc

considerations as a more restrictive

drawdown regime may make us a less

attractive jurisdiction for skilled

employees and businesses who may

be weighing up the IOM vis-a-vis

another more permissive pensions

regime.

Therefore, it will be interesting to

see which path the IOM Government

takes with regard to Osborne’s

pension reforms. My guess is that, in

the short term, the Island will simply

adopt some of the UK’s transitional

measures (including GAD rate

withdrawals of up to 150 per cent).

However, the liberalisation of the

UK’s pension regime (which is

gathering pace following the 29

September announcement that UK

inheritance tax on pensions is being

axed) will pose some difficult

questions for the IOM as to what

shape its future pension regime

should take.

What is certain, is that there will

need to be more soul searching

before we follow Osborne over the

barricades into the brave new world

of... “le flexi-access”. In this regard,

the timing of the IOM’s review of its

State pension provision could not be

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So what is the bigchange and what arethe implications forthe Isle of Man? Inshort, it is about theway income isdelivered from adefined contributionpension plan . . .

Contacts:Ben Hughes

Direct line: +44 1624 638374

E-mail: ben.hughes@cains.com

inter may be fast

approaching, with its

shorter days and darker

evenings, but that doesn’t come close

to dampening my enthusiasm about

the exciting months that lie ahead for

us in local telecommunications.

And before you groan that here’s

an industry insider waxing lyrical

over the launch of some stupefyingly

dull widget, then you’d be mistaken!

For what’s happening right now in

the broader scheme of things is of

much greater significance - the

advent of real choice and real

competition in the Isle of Man

telecoms sector. Change that has the

potential to resonate with every

business, indeed every consumer of

telephony services, for years to come.

The Isle of Man has taken its time

in reaching the decision to open up

the telecoms industry to the free

market, but understandably so. It has

been right and proper to undertake an

in-depth period of consultation

amongst all the key telecoms

stakeholders, across the public and

private sectors. Everyone with a

vested interest, ourselves included,

has had their say, but the outcome has

been worth it, in my view.

We should recognise the

enlightened stance taken by the Isle

of Man telecoms regulator, the

Communications Commission, who

took the momentous decision around

the turn of the decade to declare the

existing monopoly unhealthy and that

the telecoms sector should be made

readily available to rival operators,

Sure included. The challenge was to

find a fair and equitable way to go

about it.

The catalyst for change was the

Commission’s detailed market review

consultation in 2012, involving all the

phone companies. This sought to

establish how best to free up the

Island’s fixed telecommunications

market to fair and effective

competition.

A substantial outcome of the

Commission’s work was establishing

a framework allowing other suitably

licensed operators, like Sure, the

ability to access Manx Telecom’s

infrastructure, via new wholesale

products, with the ultimate aim of

offering consumers wider choice.

An era of unprecedented choiceUntil now, customer benefits

associated with true competition in

fixed line services, such as enhanced

choice, reduced pricing and product

differentiation, have been materially

lacking in the Isle of Man. But now

that the Regulator has given the

thumbs-up for us to compete equally,

I am confident that we are at the

beginning of a new era of

unprecedented choice, of greater

innovation and flexibility, of more cost

effective products and solutions for

both the local business and domestic

telecoms market. At last, we can dare

to be bold!

Without doubt, the telecoms

industry on the Isle of Man is now

plotting a course that could put

oceans of clear blue water between us

and other jurisdictions. Telecomm-

unications is surely a key driver in

attracting world class business and I

fervently believe, with a genuinely

competitive telecoms industry in

operation, as an outward looking

Island economy, we can really go

places.

So hats off to everyone who has

been involved in this process, the first

phase of which we are now

embarking upon, known as Carrier

Pre-Selection (CPS). This is just the

start for, in the coming months, with

even more substantial changes

planned, we will begin to see full-

blown competition in the local

telecoms market.

CPS is an important first step,

however. It enables customers to

select Sure to carry all their fixed line

calls, without requiring the

installation of any special equipment,

and billing is handled directly

through Sure. Even though it has

only been a matter of weeks since its

implementation, we are already

seeing the positive impact of CPS.

Its arrival has been the perfect

platform for Sure to embark on

releasing a new generation of

products which we believe will help

to transform the industry here,

starting with Business Phone for the

corporate market and Home Phone

for the domestic market.

With Business Phone, no

additional equipment or physical

changes to a customer’s telephone

system are required. This, combined

with the excellent tariffs offered by

Sure, makes the new service very

appealing. Indeed, I am confident that

Business Phone will help companies,

of all sizes, to dramatically reduce

their telephony costs.

It also provides Sure with the

perfect launch pad to broaden its

appeal to a much wider Isle of Man

business audience.

The Big Change - Wholesale LineRental

Whilst CPS is good news in itself,

as we move into 2015, the genie will

be well and truly out of the open

market competition bottle, with the

introduction of wholesale line rental

(WLR). This is the real game changer,

as it will allow Sure, and other

licensed communications providers to

offer, over the local network, bundled

packages of services such as calls,

broadband and mobile - a facility

we’ve been unable to offer until now.

W

The start of real telecoms choicefor Isle of Man businesses

With the CommincationCommission’s blessing,we now have theperfect opportunity tocompete and toinnovate, so that Isleof Man consumershave genuine choice

Sure’s Chief Operating Officer, Mike Phillips, reveals why 2015 isshaping up to be a pivotal year for the local telecoms industry

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For business customers, this is a

major development because it means,

for the first time, all of these services

will be provided by Sure - from start

to finish.

When we speak about choice,

fundamentally, this is what we have

been striving to achieve; to be able to

offer a seamless, stand-alone rival to

the incumbent provider, offering

consumers and businesses a genuine

choice of telecoms operator, locally

and internationally.

Since 2007 when we launched in

the Isle of Man, we have worked

tirelessly to establish Sure as a

credible and alternative telecoms

provider. Substantial and consistent

investment has enabled us to create a

fit-for-purpose, island-wide network,

accommodating a comprehensive

range of mobile and broadband

services.

Nevertheless, despite our best

efforts to innovate and compete, it

has, at times, been an uphill struggle.

For despite our best efforts, with the

best will in the world, we’ve largely

had to operate with one arm behind

our back. Not any longer, thankfully!

With the Commission’s blessing, we

now have the perfect opportunity to

compete and to innovate, so that Isle

of Man consumers have genuine

choice as to who provides their

telecom services.

Absolutely fit-for-purposeAnother step in the right direction

will be the Island-wide launch of our

own 4G network which will be

operational shortly.

4G heralds a step change in the

capabilities of mobile networks. At the

same time, Sure is completely

renewing its second and third

generation networks, so that all smart

phone and mobile data users will see

a significant improvement in their

mobile data experience.

We wanted to make certain that

our new network is absolutely fit-for-

purpose and that it will do our

customers proud, so we thank you for

your patience. As consumers

ourselves, we can’t wait to see the

network fully operational!

Of course, in business, price will

always be a key driver. So I think it is

fair to say that once all the pieces of

the open market jigsaw are in place,

business customers will not only have

access to greater choice but they will

also benefit from the cost advantages

that will undoubtedly follow.

It won’t just be about price,

however. Equally, fair and effective

competition will enable us to provide

a far more advanced and flexible

telecoms package to customers. For

regulatory change isn’t simply about

having the opportunity to offer an

alternative to traditional telephony

services, even though this is still

important. It is also about our ability

to transform the entire telecoms

arena locally, to make it fitter for

purpose than ever before, so that it

can provide huge advantages and

added value to the wonderful range of

businesses we have here and,

crucially, so that we can attract new

enterprise to the Island. Above all, we

are passionate about helping

businesses become ultra-efficient in

the way they operate, whether it be in

the office, or out of the office:

seamless telecommunications.

For us at Sure, this is a

transformational time. Fair and

effective competition is something we

have been advocating for a number of

years; the ability for rival operators,

like ourselves, to be able to compete

fairly so as to drive more value for

customers. We firmly believe that

competition is good for consumers on

the island, and we are now on the

cusp of seeing this in respect of

traditional telephony services.

With the bright lights of

competition illuminating our

telecoms industry, at Sure we see this

as a shining new age for the sector

here. It’s a real adventure and we

hope to share that with growing

numbers of business customers

across the Island.

Left:Sure’s ChiefOperating Officer,Mike Phillips

eally, it ought not to have

been unexpected – I have

thought the major equity

indices/markets to be too high for

most of 2014.

After the very recent sell-off, share

indices probably reflected a fairer

value of the world economy and,

whilst I do not think that they were

cheap, at least share prices (as

measured by the leading indices) may

have been more sustainable but with

the subsequent ‘recovery’ or one

might be tempted to say, sanguinity,

shares as a whole i.e. as reflected in

the indices again do not look cheap,

going forward.

Why the mid-October panic? In

my view, markets just got ahead of

themselves – as they usually do,

whether the trend has been up or

down i.e. it tends to be a ‘herd’

mentality to follow the trend up or

down until someone acts as the

catalyst and sticks their head up

above the parapet and says “hey

there, isn’t the market just gone too

far…” and the result is a sudden rush

to the door! Such a dose of reality

usually reflects in either a sudden

knee-jerk (in the case of a

“correction” / downward move, that

normally bounces off the bottom and

settles after panic selling has

occurred, whereas, the upward trends

tend to take longer and gain

momentum only gradually over many

months or years. Consequently,

overvaluation or inflated share prices

can be more difficult to detect as such

“exuberance” or excessive value is

normally supported by press or public

comment and analysts’ predictions

often support further ‘improvement’

and optimism (because analysts are

usually employed by investment

houses selling securities for a

business) – irrespective of whether it

is soundly based or conjecture.

Ultimately, reality returns and we go

through the whole cycle all over

again. I am not deriding economic

commentators or analysts statements,

merely pointing to the reality that

much of the market movement is

driven by sentiment and emotion,

which tends to oscillate toward the

ends of the scale rather than rest

easily somewhere near the middle,

where a more fundamentally more

sound appraisal might be expected to

be found. Plus ca change

Readers of my recent articles will,

I hope, understand that I am a ‘glass

half full’ person i.e. I tend to be of an

optimistic disposition. However, I can

only say that 2014 has been a period

where I see many external, global or

regional issues that give cause for

concern and appear to be little

reported, highlighted or discussed.

Perhaps we have all grown weary of

the financial crisis and the resultant

Great Recession. However, if we don’t

highlight and consider the major

concerns overhanging economies and

deal with the fundamental issues

presented, then we are living in a

fool’s paradise. The return in equity

market indices to pre ‘jitters’ levels

appears to me to be more a matter of

seeing the central bankers as

providing a guarantee of security or

back-stop if things really go too far

awry. To my mind, that is expecting

too much of governments and their

agents!

The ‘reality’ of National statisticsWith apologies to readers for a

slight digression here. I do think that,

having read The Times recently and

discovering that the (UK) National

Statistics Office is now including

illegal drug use and prostitution in the

national output figures, in order to

bring them into line with European

national accounting ‘standards’, one

ought to ask is that a move too far? Are

R

Market Jitters - a sense of reality?

October certainly saw “the jitters” or a sense of reality beingbrought back into equity markets. Not unexpected or unreasonable

in my view but, as far as the press was concerned, it was allterribly worrying!

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By Alan Molloy,Managing Director,

A 2 B Consulting Limited

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the statisticians or governments so

desperate that they are seeking to

include what they euphemistically

referred to as the ‘dark economy’, in

order to produce better looking

national ‘product’ statistics? I have no

real desire to know how they calculate

such data but it is surely less than

ideal to extrapolate some best

estimates of one location and ‘scale

up’ the numbers to reflect national

data estimates. Additionally, basing

national (and European) statistics on

such guestimates is surely foolhardy

at best and downright disingenuous at

worst! The illegal activities of drugs

and prostitution apparently

contributed to the overall rise in

consumer spending in 2013, so that’s

really marvellous!!! Isn’t it?!? I also

recall reading in the recent past of the

findings of tests on the river waters of

northern Italy (the river Po etc.). The

scientists found such a high trace level

of cocaine in the water that they

believed a significant majority of

Italians were consuming the drug.

Another finding in the UK suggested

that the vast majority of English £20

notes had trace levels of cocaine so

should we resort to such ‘definitive’

evidence to calculate the UK and EU

national statistics? I notice that Mr.

Cameron didn’t argue against the

ONS’s estimates of ‘output’ or

‘product’. I know he doesn’t want to

end up paying a further £1.7Bn into

the EU coffers but he appears more

intent on appeasing his backbenchers

and laying the foundations for his 2015

general election campaign than in

arguing against such dubious data as

the basis for calculating any statistics!

Back to The JittersOne has only to pick up a

newspaper or magazine -whether the

New York Times, the Telegraph, the

Financial Times, Irish Times, the

Economist or whatever – to see

headlines that the world is drowning

in debt and that debt is the main cause

for concern for us right now and the

cause of our inability to achieve

economic recovery. Well, without a

decent dose of inflation, governments

cannot manage to inflate themselves

out of the debt pile as they did in the

1970s for example.

Households have used the time

since the financial crisis of 2007 to

attempt to pay down their debts – not

surprising given the more uncertain

jobs market and economies out there.

As Paul Krugman in the New York

Times put it: Taking the path of

righteousness is killing off the world

economy. And, the threat of deflation

is also casting a real shadow. To

paraphrase him: In the run up to 2008,

the world had an explosion of credit

and the economies boomed on the

back of that. Old notions of prudence

were cast aside. The music stopped in

2008 and the money stopped flowing.

‘Deleverage’ was the buzzword. For

each individual it may make sense to

tighten ones belt. However, when the

whole nation does the same it is

catastrophic because your spending is

my income and so forth. In the USE in

the 1930s they had FDR. He initiated

public spending programmes that

allowed borrowers to refinance more

cheaply.

This time around Iceland took the

lead when they were brought to the

edge of the precipice and cancelled

outright a significant part of

household debt, thereby allowing

people to continue with their lives

without catastrophic consequences.

However, in Europe we see austerity

packages forced upon previously

profligate peripheral economies and

now non-peripheral ones alike, by

Germany’s moral indignation over the

notion that irresponsible borrowers

might not face the full consequences

of their actions. Krugman ends his

commentary by saying maybe, just

maybe, bad news – say a recession in

Germany – will bring an end to the

destructive reign of virtue – but don’t

count on it.

Well, at some stage Germany aka

Angela Markel has got to see that

whilst they may have a well-

intentioned phobia concerning debt,

if they don’t watch out, and pretty

soon, the spectre of deflation and

recession looms large! Wake up

Angela, for all our sakes – within the

EU and without!

Perhaps we have allgrown weary of thefinancial crisis and theresultant GreatRecession. However, ifwe don’t highlight andconsider the majorconcerns overhangingeconomies and dealwith the fundamentalissues presented, thenwe are living in a fool’sparadise.

n the return side of the

equation it must be

recognised that there are

very few assets which can be

described as offering “value” at the

moment. Valuations matter; it is the

price you pay for an investment

which is the most significant

determinant of its future returns.

Price-earnings (p/e) multiples are

one such way of assessing how

cheap, or expensive, stock markets

are and analysis of data provided by

Robert Shiller clearly demonstrates

this relationship. Reviewing the

Shiller p/e since 1871 reveals that

when the S&P 500 has been

purchased at a p/e multiple below

ten, the market has delivered an

average annualised return of just

under 14% in the following ten years.

Purchasing the market when the

multiple exceeds 30 has resulted in

an average return of just 1.36%. At

the end of September, the US Stock

Market traded on a Shiller p/e of over

25 times, correlating to an annualised

return of 5.2% over the next ten

years.

There are less expensive stock

markets; however very few are

unambiguously cheap. Even high

yield bonds are often high yield in

name only. Billions of dollars are

pouring into “frontier bond markets”

offering yields which, until recently,

would have been viewed as

unfathomably low. The Ivory Coast’s

ten year $750 million bond was more

than six-times oversubscribed,

attracting orders of $4.75 billion.

This issue currently yields a modest

5.5% and while political stability has

been restored to the country of late it

should be remembered that it was

only in 2011 that payments were

suspended on a particular

government issue. Are investors

being sufficiently rewarded for the

risks of investment? Arguably not.

But what about risk? Are these

seemingly low levels of potential

return set against a benign

investment environment? Sadly, this

doesn’t appear to be the case and the

risks of investment appear to have

been increasing for much of the year.

So what are the primary risks? The

first must surely be potential policy

mistakes by the world’s central banks

who are as prone to miscalculation as

the rest of us, and far from the

omnipotent presence which certain

policymakers might have you believe.

Regrettably, the odds of a policy

mistake have escalated with the Bank

of England, US Federal Reserve and

European Central Bank (ECB) all

having difficult decisions to make. As

far as the US and UK are concerned

the dilemma surrounds how quickly

and how far interest rates should be

raised. Is each economy sufficiently

robust to withstand even a moderate

rise in borrowing costs? Or will

failure to take action now spark the

long awaited surge in inflation that

many have feared? Moving too

slowly, or too quickly, could have

pronounced effects on investment

markets pressuring share prices at a

time when valuations aren’t

particularly cheap to begin with.

While it is all too easy to become

immune to the many travails of the

world it is also clear that there is ever

less stability from a geopolitical

perspective. Whether it is the rise of

Islamic State militancy, protests in

Hong Kong, EU referendums,

political uncertainty in Latin

America, Ebola outbreaks or tensions

between Russia and Ukraine, the

potential for geopolitical

developments to upset financial

markets appears far higher now than

on previous occasions. The world is

far from a peaceful and stable haven.

Meanwhile, economically, Europe

O

Risk vs return:the investment conundrumIt is an inalienable fact that any investment brings with it a degreeof risk; the essential skill is to assess what those risks might be

and judge whether the potential returns offer sufficientcompensation.

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By Dermot Hamill,Head of Wealth Management,

Canaccord Genuity Wealth ManagementIsle of Man

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is in a mess. When even the

Chairman of John Lewis describes

conditions in France as “sclerotic,

hopeless and downbeat” things must

be pretty bad surely? While one

business leader’s (ill-advised)

comments need to be taken in

context, far more worrying is the fact

that Germany, so long the Euro’s

economic power-house and bastion

of economic strength, appears to be

faltering. While there was previously

much focus on the economic

imbalances of Greece, Portugal,

Spain and Italy, it should be

recognised that Germany, too, is

imbalanced; it’s just that the

economy’s imbalances are at the

polar extreme of “peripheral

Europe”. Germany is too dependent

on exports. With the strength of the

Euro until recently and a Chinese

slowdown in evidence, this frailty has

come home to roost. If Germany is

vulnerable, what hope the rest of the

Eurozone? This is before one even

begins to consider the ECB’s probe

into the Euro area banking sector.

With the International Monetary

Fund forecasting that Greek banks

still require an additional €6 billion

to meet regulatory requirements it is

clear that the Eurozone crisis is still

far from over.

Finally, significant unanswered

questions surround China and

whether it can sustain its government

targeted growth rate of 7.5%.

Opinion is firmly divided on whether

China represents a continuing hope

for the global economy or remains a

significant risk to future stability.

Some would highlight the massive

investment boom which has created

“ghost cities”, a misallocation of

resources and bad debts which have

yet to be formally recognised. Others

would point to the high savings rate

which underpins the economy, the

administrative action which is being

taken to prevent a housing bubble

becoming a housing bust and a 7%-

plus growth rate which remains the

envy of the rest of the world. As ever,

the truth probably lies somewhere

between these two extremes but

nevertheless the world increasingly

relies on China – whether as a source

of new demand, a buyer of

commodities or as a provider of

funding for governments

internationally. An economic shock,

however unlikely, cannot be

discounted completely and there is

little doubt that this would have

severe repercussions.

This is not an exhaustive list of

risks – inflation, deflation, excessive

profit margins, government debt

levels, demographics – all offer either

short or long term challenges. What

we can say is that the risk and return

ratio of investment has become far

less favourable in the past few

months.

Germany is toodependent on exports.With the strength ofthe Euro until recentlyand a Chineseslowdown in evidence,this frailty has comehome to roost. IfGermany is vulnerable,what hope the rest ofthe Eurozone?

“ “

aving worked with a number

of US start-up companies in

the Life Sciences sector

during my years at PwC in Boston, it

comes as no surprise to me that the

healthcare industry is being upended

by companies attuned to the needs

and desires of empowered consumers.

New entrants are nibbling at the

edges of the traditional healthcare

ecosystem, setting the stage for a New

Health Economy. These new entrants

– from the retail, technology,

telecommunications, and consumer

products industries – are entering into

the healthcare sector and fashioning

the contours of this expanding

market. A recent survey by PwC’s

Health Research Institute found that

consumers are more willing to

abandon traditional care venues for

more convenient alternatives. Nearly

one in two respondents said they

would choose new options for more

than a dozen common medical

procedures, covering all sorts of

things from using home-diagnosis kits

through to having chemotherapy

administered at home. This simple

shift is creating opportunities for new

entrants to grab a share of an ever

increasing healthcare market as the

world’s population ages.

The survey found that

approximately half of new entrants

into the sector are existing companies

in the technology, telecomm-

unications and automotive sectors

who are seeking to empower

consumers to access care from

anywhere. New players are also

reshaping the fitness and wellness

industry which offers rapid access to

the market being cash-based, less

regulated, with fewer barriers to entry

and fewer risks. Examples include

Samsung’s heart-rate monitor in the

Galaxy S5 phone, Google’s ‘smart lens’

and its wellness-focused ‘Google fit’

and Apple’s ‘HealthKit‘.

Incumbents are facing critical

decisions about whether to compete

or align with these emerging

healthcare players. Consolidation in

the industry will follow and soon

segments of the health business will

look and feel like other consumer

orientated, technology-enabled

industries with its own Amazon.com-

style, iconic, new brands.

Although healthcare remains a

complex and highly-regulated sector,

opportunities abound. Consumers are

ready to move from traditional care

models to ones that echo their

experiences in banking, retail and

entertainment. The costs associated

with these delivery methods are much

less than traditional ones such as a

hospital or GP visit.

Approximately half of respondents

to the survey said that they would send

a digital photo of a rash or skin

condition to a dermatologist for an

opinion; would have a pacemaker or

H

Heart of the matter:BioMed in the Isle of Man

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As the health sector’s centre of gravity shifts towards consumers,savvy new players are moving fast to capitalise on the change. New

entrants are poised to shake up the industry and seek to drawrevenue from traditional healthcare organisations while building

lucrative new markets.As the Isle of Man seeks to capture a share of this growing marketNick Halsall, a Partner in PwC Isle of Man, looks at the changes inthe sector and the opportunities that lie ahead for the Isle of Man.

By Nick Halsall,Partner,

PwC Isle of Man

defibrillator checked at home

wirelessly by their doctor; or would

check for an ear infection at home

using a device attached to their phone.

There is clear opportunity and

these tests and treatments could divert

millions of patients away from GP

surgeries and A&E departments,

bringing significant savings to

organisations such as the NHS whilst

delivering better care to the patient.

The Island of OpportunityMany of the opportunities that lie

ahead in the healthcare industry and

specifically the BioMed sector include

skills and technology which already

exist locally. These skills together

with our legal and fiscal environment

and our ability to embrace new

opportunities and change legislation

make the Island a place where the

BioMed industry can flourish. We

already have a growing BioMed

cluster, and there are many attractions

to potential inward investment.

We have fully developed laws that

protect intellectual property rights

and unlike any similar jurisdiction,

we have used our relationship with

the UK to join most of the world’s

international agreements for the

recognition and protection of IP

rights.

Our business-friendly tax system

encourages innovation and rewards

success. It is internationally

responsible, has been certified by the

EU as compliant with its Code of

Conduct on business taxation and we

are entering into an ever increasing

number of double tax treaties and

other international agreements.

A number of the opportunities in

the sector involve collecting,

analysing, storing and interpreting

patient and other data and we have a

renowned telecommunications

networks and a data hosting sector

that provides a robust, secure and

sophisticated environment in which

to hold and process data.

As well as utilising the PwC global

network we continue to be active in

promoting the local opportunities in

the BioMed sector through our

sponsorship of the entrepreneur

events in the Isle of Man with the

upcoming event scheduled for 10

December 2014 having a specific

BioMed focus. During our time

sponsoring the entrepreneur events

we have seen and worked with a

number of high-quality, early-stage

businesses and start-ups from medical

device companies to those utilising

mobile applications.

Clear opportunities exist for the

Isle of Man and companies wishing to

use the Island, particularly those with

operations in sub-sectors of the

BioMed industry that fit with the

Island's resources, infrastructure and

fiscal and legal environment.

If you are interested in finding out

more about the entrepreneur event,

please contact Linda Jackson at

l.jackson@iom.pwc.com.

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We have fullydeveloped laws thatprotect intellectualproperty rights andunlike any similarjurisdiction, we haveused our relationshipwith the UK to joinmost of the world’sinternationalagreements for therecognition andprotection of IP rights.

hallenges to Wills arise in two

situations, firstly in relation to

the legal form of the Will itself

and secondly in relation to the

circumstances of its making.

The first category revolves around

the validity of the Will. This is

governed by law, which says that no

Will shall be valid unless it appears

that the testator (the person making

the will) intended to effect the Will; it

is in writing and signed by the testator

or by some other person in his

presence and his direction; the

signature is made or acknowledged

by the testator in the presence of two

or more witnesses present at the

same time; and each witness shall

attest and sign the Will or

acknowledge the signature in the

presence of a testator. In plain

English this basically means that,

once written, a Will must be signed by

the person making it with two

witnesses present at the same time

who must then sign it also in

everyone’s presence.

These provisions are vital as if the

document does not comply with the

legal requirements it is invalid and

ineffective, with few exceptions.

These provisions although simple, are

frequently the cause of Wills failing.

So if a Will complies with the legal

formalities we come on to the second

sets of circumstances where it can be

challenged and fail.

The first of these circumstances,

and indeed the most frequent, is that

of capacity. Anyone over the age of

eighteen and of “sound disposing

mind” may make a Will. The issue of

whether a testator was of “sound

disposing mind” at the time of giving

instructions for and/or of the

execution of the Will is becoming

increasingly common and is likely to

continue to rise in number. This is

due to the increase in people

suffering dementia, proportionate to

lengthening life expectancy. The

current statistics from the Alzheimer’s

Society estimate that there are

currently 700,000 people with

dementia in the United Kingdom and

that by 2025 there will be over one

million!

Whilst dementia remains one of

the most common causes of not

having the capacity to make a Will,

there are numerous other physical

and psychiatric causes of incapacity

these include, for example,

schizophrenia, alcohol and drug

abuse, traumatic head injuries etc.

If the Will is challenged on the

basis that the testator lacked capacity

and this goes before the Court, it

applies a straightforward test namely,

that the testator understand (1) the

nature of the act and its effects, (2) the

extent of the property of which they

are disposing, and (3) did they

comprehend and appreciate the

claims to which they ought to give

effect, and (4) that no disorder of the

mind shall “poison their affections,

pervert their sense of right or prevent

the exercise of their normal faculties”

to once again quote the words of the

19th century case that established the

test, that “no insane delusion shall

influence his will in disposing of his

property and bring about a disposal of

it which if the mind had been sound

would not have been made”.

Although this test was set out in the

19th century and contains an

unsavoury prejudice against mental

health issues, it still encapsulates the

test.

In determining the question of

capacity, expert medical evidence will

C

Where there’s a will,is there a way out?

Everybody should be aware of the importance of making a Will toensure that their estate goes where they intend rather than where

the law says it should if they die without one. But what happens if there are doubts surrounding someone’s Will?

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By Tim Swift,Senior Associate in the Litigation & Insolvency

Department,Appleby (Isle of Man) LLC.

NEWSN e w s | G o v e r n m e n t | F e a t u r e s | C a r s | D i r e c t o r y | A p p o i n t m e n t s | L i f e s t y l e

be necessary to assist the Court. Of

course, the question of capacity

should not arise where Wills have

been made with the assistance of

advocates as there is a “golden rule”

whereby if there is any doubt as to the

mental capacity of the testator the

advocate should investigate this

before the Will is executed.

Closely linked to, but separate

from, the question of mental capacity,

another basis upon which a Will can

be challenged is the requirement that

a testator should know and approve of

the contents of their Will. This is an

extension of the basic requirement

that they should have what is known

as “testamentary intention” at the

time of making the Will. This means

that they must actually know and

approve the contents of the Will. This

may seem obvious but is often a trap

for the unwary where someone may

not be suffering from lack of capacity

but there are doubts as to whether

they really know what they are doing.

Examples of this situation arise where

someone other than the testator

instructs an advocate to prepare a

Will; where the Will makes provisions

very different to previous Wills or

expressed intentions; where the Will

is not read over to the person signing

it. As you can gather from the above

there is a considerable list of what can

develop into suspicious

circumstances, challenging the

validity of a Will on this ground.

There are cases where a Will is

challenged on the basis of undue

influence. Here someone is seeking

to set aside a Will on the basis that it

was procured by undue influence and

actual coercion. This is a notoriously

difficult matter to prove as undue

influence will very frequently depend

on the drawing of inferences from

circumstances and surrounding facts.

It may take the form of control,

domination or emotional pressure

over a period of time, so that that

person is so controlled, crushed,

intimidated or dominated that they

will do almost anything to please

another to prevent anger or avoid a

conflict, namely to have a peaceful

existence and just sign the document.

The above are the principle

arrears of challenge to a Will where

it’s form is valid, although there are in

addition provisions for setting aside

part of a Will due to a mistake or

where a Will is a forgery or there is a

fraud.

Naturally wills are sometimes

challenged because they are formally

invalid and also on one or other of the

second set of reasons.

From the above it could be

thought that Wills can be challenged

for all sorts of reasons. This is true.

But unless a Will is challenged

because it is not formally valid, in

which case the burden of proof rests

on the person who wants the Will to

stand, the burden of proof rests with

the person challenging the Will. The

burden of proof is on what is known

as the civil standard namely on the

balance of probabilities and by the

nature of the circumstances is often

difficult to meet as the person

making the will is not able to give

evidence!

Even where the Will is challenged

because it is alleged to be formally

invalid, this can be difficult, for they

generally have a clause signed by the

testator and the witnesses “attesting”

the Will, namely that all the legal

requirements have been satisfied

regarding who was where and when.

Relatives often have concerns in

relation to the contents of Wills and

often want to look to challenge the

Will. This is, however, a complex and

expensive business. Before

embarking on it, they should receive

expert legal advice.

So where there is a Will there is

sometimes a way to challenge it but

be prepared for a costly fight.

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Unless a Will ischallenged because itis not formally valid, inwhich case the burdenof proof rests on theperson who wants theWill to stand, theburden of proof restswith the personchallenging the Will.

CSA Chief Executive Simon

Osborne and President Lorraine

Young were among the guests

and the evening’s compere, Ron Berry,

introduced the after-dinner guest

speaker, Mark Ramprakash MBE.

Bill Shimmins, Island Director, RBS

International: “We were very pleased

to again sponsor the annual ICSA

dinner as a part of our broader support

of the Island and its professions.”

£1,700 raised for charityAdrian Tinkler, ICSA Isle of Man

Chairman said, ‘We were again very

pleased to receive support from RBS

International for the Dinner and

Appleby for the pre-Dinner Drinks

Reception. Thanks go to all our prize

sponsors, special guests and of course

to our compere, 3FM’s Ron Berry. We

are also indebted to everyone who

supported the evening’s charity raffle -

raising £1,700 to be divided equally

between the Manx Breast Cancer

Support Group and Crossroads Care

Isle of Man.

“The Annual Dinner is a fitting

opportunity to recognise the successes

of the ICSA students and our thanks

also go to the individual prize

sponsors.”

Guest of Honour, Mark

Ramprakash MBE is one of only 25

players in the history of cricket to have

scored 100 first class centuries and

when he retired in 2012 he had scored

114 centuries, a tremendous

achievement. He was the first batsman

ever to score a century against every

county. Since his retirement Mark has

turned to coaching; in November 2012

he was the batting coach for the

England Lions in India and in January

2013 was appointed as batting coach

for Middlesex on a two year contract.

Also in 2013 he was awarded the MBE

for his services to sport.

I

Prizewinners recognised atICSA Isle of Man Annual DinnerICSA Isle of Man’s 2014 prizewinners were recognised at the recentcapacity-audience dinner, sponsored by RBS International, with Pre-

Dinner Drinks Reception supported by Appleby and held at theMount Murray Hotel & Country Club, Santon.

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Above:ICSA  members,

prizewinners andGuest of Honour, Mark

Ramprakash MBE(third left, seated)

PRIZE PRESENTATIONS

Certificate in Offshore Finance

and Administration

COFA Completions

Eniko Magyar

Natasha Mary Peyton

Aaron Craig Hawley

Diploma in Offshore Finance and

Administration

DOFA Completions

Zoe Lorraine Lowey

Chartered Secretaries Qualifying

Scheme (CSQS)

Graduates 2013/2014

Lesley Anne Lennon

Trident Trust Award for Excellence

Presented by

Heather Kent, Director of Client

Services at Trident Trust Company

(IOM) Ltd

Winner: David Catlow

IQE Limited Award to for

Corporate Governance

Presented by

Anne Couper Woods,

Director of IQE Limited

Winner: Rachel Overman

Duncan Lawrie Award for Best

COFA/DOFA Student

Presented by

Gillian Ralston-Jordan,

Director of Duncan Lawrie

Winner: Eniko Magyar

Carter Jones McDonald -

Corporate Secretarial Award

Presented by

Tracy McQuillin, Advocate

Winner 2013: David Catlow

Winner 2014: Donna Kermode

Links:

www.icsaiom.org

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MW: The media: the most powerful

entity on earth. With the power to

make the innocent guilty and the

guilty innocent. To control the minds

of the masses and to create power

from friction. Or, as we see it, an

opportunity to converse with a

broader public. One that, luckily

enough, is populated by willing

professionals and expert

communicators who just want to tell a

good story well. Corporate or

personal, comment or press release,

from the perspective of a company the

media, as its etymology attests, is a

membrane, a middle sheath or layer

designed to filter out the bad, and let

through the good. All you have to do is

learn to be good.

LB: Technically, whether as a

nominated spokesperson, or a humble

company representative who happens

to answer the phone, all employees

within a public facing business should

be trained to talk to the press. This

does not necessarily mean they should

be taught to evade and encrypt, but

rather to ensure that company

messages are communicated clearly,

with relevance, and for mutual

benefit. Unless the company you

represent has committed an act likely

to significantly inflame opinions, all

journalists are your friends. They’re

unlikely to attack without reason and,

more often than not, will give you time

to prepare your answers. Ultimately,

any interview opportunity is precisely

that, an opportunity: take advantage of

the chance to talk to your public via an

objective medium and reap the

benefits.

MW: As with all PR undertakings,

however, preparation is crucial. At the

risk of using corporate banalities;

once you engage with the media,

you’re entering a live fire

environment, so have a plan in place.

There are too many tips and tricks to

go into here, but the big four are

research, preparation, strategy and

having fun. It’s a rare and fascinating

experience this media world of ours,

and if you want to have the time to

appreciate it for what it is, you have to

take the time to preempt and ready

yourself for any scenario.

LB: First off, identify who your media

are. Start with your company at the

centre, and categorise your likely

reach into local, national and

international, or multi-jurisdictional.

Refine these further into the

potentially friendly, and the potentially

dangerous, and then identify the

journalists that give your media their

respective reputations. Use this

information to inform your knowledge

about potential audiences. Who is it

you’re talking to? Who is it who’s

talking to them on your behalf? Why

does your audience engage with these

media in the first place? How will your

company message be contextualised

against past stories? And how can you

take advantage of this information?

Just like any good journalist, ask the

who, what, when, where and why, and

you’ll be on your way to developing a

fool-proof engagement programme.

MW: When it comes to identification

for the interview itself, again, do your

research. Find out what else has been

said about the topic. Find out more

about the journalist who’ll be

interviewing you – identify their

specialties, areas of interest, likely

response and interview format. Next,

try to chart the trajectory of your

interview topic. No journalist wants

recycled opinions or stories; they want

fresh and engaging material that will

add to the overall media narrative. If

you were interviewed about LIBOR

rates in 2012, for example, it was

pretty likely that your story would

contribute to a negative trajectory. If,

however, you were commenting on

economic growth in 2013, the opposite

would apply.

LB: The same goes for opinions. For

something to be fresh and engaging, it

has to be unique. This is a chance to

distinguish your company from its

competitors, and to identify your

representative as an industry leader.

As such, try never to sit on the fence.

It’s an actively disinteresting and spiky

place to be, and will only serve to

guarantee that you’re not approached

by that journalist in the future. Even if

your opinion is simply personal, and

not representative of the company’s,

you can introduce it as such. But be

careful not to go off on too much of a

tangent, or to be provoked into doing

so. If you’re not comfortable with a

question, or need to preface it with a

‘this is just my personal opinion’, then

explain that position clearly. Your

interviewer will understand, and your

audience too.

MW: Knowing these boundaries - yours

and those of the media - is critical to

any engagement programme. If you

are uncomfortable with a line of

questioning, then be absolutely clear

that this is the case. Explain that you

would rather research further or wait

for events to unfold before passing

opinion, or prepare a coverall

statement in advance of any contact.

Crisis response is something we have

gone into in past installments, so we

won’t elaborate too much here, but you

are absolutely within your rights to

choose not to broach a topic.

Remember, journalists are highly

trained professionals. They are where

they are because they’re good at what

they do, but they too have a very public

reputation to uphold and will do so

with conscience and professionalism.

LB: This is not to say that you should

ever try to simply ignore the media,

however. A good journalist won’t just

go away. Silence creates a vacuum,

which can happily be filled with

speculation by some of the less

reputable players, and a roaring

silence by the others. Perhaps even

worse, your interviewer may

eventually go away unsatisfied and

never approach you for public

comment again. Becoming ‘the

company that declined comment’ for

fear of slipping up is not a healthy

reputation to have. You’ll be

condemning yourself to the scrap heap

in terms of future publicity, and a

company without a voice will have a

tough time leading the conversation

with their audience.

MW: So there we have it, a crash

course on how not to crash out in the

public eye. Adding your voice to the

public argument is never going to be

easy, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be

fun. And if you’re still worried, there

are plenty of experienced professionals

out there who can help.

PR Matters:The Media, and how to talk to them

First off, identify whoyour media are. Startwith your company atthe centre, andcategorise your likelyreach into local,national andinternational, or multi-jurisdictional.

By Moya Wilson, Senior Account Manager, and Laura Bryan, PRManager, Ashgrove Marketing

ISLE OF MAN

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he UK Government says,

“Whistleblowing is when a

worker reports suspected

wrongdoing at work. Officially this is

called ‘making a disclosure in the

public interest’.”

Controversial US consumer

advocate, lawyer, auto-safety reformer

and author of UNSAFE AT ANY

SPEED, Ralph Nader is credited with

coining the term as an alternative to

less flattering "informers" or

"snitches". Several time candidate for

US president, Nader would be

described by a former US Senator as

being responsible for, “… a movement

(that) exists whose sole purpose is to

keep large corporations and the

government honest."

Historically, to be a whistleblower

required a stout heart as well as very

thick skin and, as often as not, an up-

to-date CV to help look for a new job.

The problem is especially acute for a

parent in a low-paying job who

desperately needs a steady pay cheque

to keep the lights on at home. As a

result, whistleblower groups have

formed, including Whistleblowers UK:

www.wbuk.org and Public Concern at

Work: www.pcaw.org.uk.

In the UK, the Public Interest

Disclosure Act 1998 protects

whistleblowers from recrimination by

their employer and the Enterprise and

Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (ERRA)

closed a loophole created by Parkins v

Sodexho (2002) protecting employees

who “blew the whistle” regarding

breaches of their own employment

contract.

Under UK law, workers are

protected when in the public interest

they, “report things that aren’t right,

are illegal or if anyone at work is

neglecting their duties, including:

• someone’s health and safety is in

danger;

• damage to the environment;

• a criminal offence;

• the company isn’t obeying the law

(like not having the right insurance);

and

• covering up wrongdoing.

Unfortunately, the definition of

public interest is not completely clear.

Employers are also liable for

harassment of whistleblowers by their

colleagues. Interestingly, those

colleagues may also be personally

liable to a claim, along with their

employer.

The good news here is that

employers have a defence if they can

show that they have taken all

reasonable steps to prevent this type

of detrimental treatment.

Importantly, recent changes to the

law mean that these reports do not

need to be in good faith.

Thankfully, disaffected employees

don’t have a completely free rein.

A recent Supreme Court ruling in

the case of Hayes versus Willoughby

where employer Hayes prevailed in

T

Whistleblowing:A traitor or a selfless martyr?

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“A person who informs on a person or organisation regarded asengaging in an unlawful or immoral activity” is how the Oxford

Dictionary defines a whistleblower. Unfortunately, the laws covering whistleblowing are imprecise and theimplications for an unwary employer can be draconian, even when the

whistleblowing employee is wrong and acting purely out of self-interest. Pay-outs approaching £4 million demonstrate the direct

financial impact. Coverage by the press only makes it worse and, if it isall handled improperly, other employees may decide to join the party.

By Dani Kelly,Head of Compliance,

Moore Stephens

his assertion that Willoughby, despite

being an employee, was guilty of

harassment because Willoughby

demonstrated irrationality shows that

the law considers both sides of such

cases.

To minimise confusion and

provide themselves with protection as

a minimum, employment contracts

should incorporate provisions for

whistleblowing that work in parallel

with the employer’s whistleblowing

procedure(s) so that employees know

how to communicate to their

employer the issue that they feel they

need to report.

It should also guide employees in

situations where they might feel that

they cannot tell their employer,

steering them to the appropriate

external person or body should they

fear reprisal.

Managers must be trained in how

the company’s whistleblowing

policies work and the disciplinary

actions that will result from

victimising a whistleblower.

It is also essential that disclosures

by whistleblowers are dealt with

promptly and proactively while

keeping the whistleblower apprised

of the progress of their issue.

Remember an employee’s

decision to ‘blow the whistle’ to

entities outside of the company

depends on whether they believe they

can tell their employer without

suffering as a result – in other words

do they believe their employer will:

• cover it up;

• treat them unfairly; and

• never deal with the situation

despite their having already told the

employer.

So the message to employees who

feel they may need to blow the whistle

is to check their employment contract

and ask for a copy of the company

procedures in respect of

whistleblowing.

If they feel they can, they should

contact their employer about the issue

they specifically want to report but if

they do not feel they can tell their

employer they can contact a

prescribed person or body who can

specifically provide advice on the area

to which the issue is relevant.

And don’t worry, it’s not only full

time employees who can blow the

whistle and remain protected.

Legislation allows protection for

agency workers, people training with

an employer who may not necessarily

be employed and self-employed

workers.

But remember if you have signed

the Official Secrets Act or perhaps act

as a solicitor and have come across

information you wish to report which

is subject to legal professional

privilege you may not be protected.

Please check relevant legislation

and seek guidance so you are sure of

your rights.

For employers, blowing the

whistle can be an opportunity to

identify and improve practices before

they become embedded in the culture

and should be considered an

important part of an organisation’s

procedures.

With clearly defined processes in

place to handle whistleblowers

including a guaranteed fair and

impartial investigative process, a

guarantee that employees who make

disclosures in good faith will not be

subject to adverse consequences.

With the commitment of top level

management, employers can go some

way to protecting themselves from

legal reprisal including unfair

dismissal claims and mitigating

potentially damaging reputational

risks which may arise if reports are

made to regulators or more public

sources.

Tim Barnett, Assistant Professor of

Management, Louisiana Tech

University states, “The policy must be

more than words on paper. Writing a

policy, adopting it, and then going on

with business as usual will do nothing

to protect your company or to

improve ethical conduct.

“The policy must reflect the real

commitment of your organization to

prevent retaliation against employee

whistleblowers; encourage

employees with ethical concerns to

discuss them internally rather than

externally; and create an overall

environment within which

employees have the opportunity and

desire to behave ethically and

responsibly.”

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For employers, blowingthe whistle can be anopportunity to identifyand improve practicesbefore they becomeembedded in theculture and should beconsidered animportant part of anorganisation’sprocedures.

You have done the right thingcoming to me with this

Miss Forshaw.You’re fired.

DBA is an agreement

between the lawyer and the

client, under which the client

agrees to pay the lawyer a percentage

of the sums recovered in a claim.

This makes it a claimant’s facility,

rather than a defendant’s.

Normally, the agreement would

require payment to a lawyer in the

event that sums are recovered after

the claim is settled, or following a

Judgment of the Court. DBAs were

unlawful in England and Wales for

contentious work, except in certain

restricted areas, until 1st April, 2013.

Their predecessor, the Conditional

Fee Agreement (CFA), was regarded

by some as an unhelpful piece of

legislation. In brief, it allowed a party

to litigation to give notice to the other

side that they had entered into a CFA

with regard to any piece of litigation.

This allowed the lawyer to secure an

uplift on the normal fees, sometimes

as much as 100%, to compensate for

the fact that they might receive

nothing.

As such, if they are indeed

granted any serious consideration for

the Isle of Man, DBAs could

precipitate significant change.

Currently in the Isle of Man, unless a

claimant is eligible for legal aid or

has access to third party funding,

he/she is going to be faced with

funding expensive litigation out of

their own pocket. For most people,

this is understandably a daunting

prospect, and likely serves only to

discourage claimants from actually

proceeding with an otherwise

worthwhile case.

Conversely, the advantages of a

DBA are that there is no requirement

to notify the opponent of an

arrangement. Also, the claimant will

not have to pay any legal fees (except

expenses, such as expert’s fees) until

there has been a recovery. The

lawyers, of course, will have to roll up

their fees until the end and have to

pay for any special disbursements,

such as barrister’s opinions. A further

advantage is a greater degree of

certainty surrounding the costs of the

claim, which means that claimants

can better fight the claim itself, rather

than worry about its costs. If the case

is lost then they will not have to pay

their own legal fees. If the case is

won, they will recover most of their

claim. If this is the case, however, a

good tranche of the settlement will go

to the lawyers. This is in payment for

their having deferred their fees,

taken a risk as the whether the claim

succeeds or not, and generally

funded the claim.

If the claim is not successful, no

fees would be payable. If the claim is

successful but damages are not

recoverable because the defendant

cannot afford to pay them, then the

lawyers would not be paid under the

DBA. In short, the fee is simply a

A

Damages based agreements: theway forward for the Isle of Man?

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Following last year’s Review of Civil Litigation costs from LordJustice Jackson, Damages Based Agreements, or DBAs, are nowavailable to claimants in England and Wales. The review might be

considered the most significant revision of civil procedure in the lasttwo decades, with a number of advantages and implications

concerning claimant/solicitor relations to consider, and althoughDBAs have not yet been introduced to the Isle of Man system they

are something that the ‘powers that be’ could seriously think about.

By Alan Gough,Director,

Gough Law

proportion of the sums recovered. In

the USA, for example, where similar

arrangements pertain, the usual fee

is one-third. Even if a DBA is entered

into, costs can still be recovered from

a losing opponent, normally on the

standard basis. These would then be

deducted from the amount owed to

the lawyers on there being a

successful outcome to the claim. The

opponent is never liable to pay more

than the client is due to pay the

lawyer under the DBA.

It is interesting to note why these

arrangements are different to those

often seen in the US courts. First,

most damages claims in the US are

fixed by a jury. This can give rise to

some bizarre awards being made,

many of which are often reported in

the national press because of their

magnitude. Second, in the US juries

are invited and encouraged by the

claimant to award punitive damages.

That is say, an amount of damages

not related to actual loss but as a sort

of penalty, or bolt-on, for the losing

Defendant’s wrongdoing. Finally, in

the US costs cannot normally be

recovered from an opponent, even

when the opponent loses hands

down. There is, therefore, no way of

recovering costs.

All of the above points are subject

to some criticism, and under the

English DBA do not arise. Judges can

fix damages based on proven losses,

punitive damages are rare, and sums

of money can still be recovered from

opponents if the opponent loses.

Therefore, the damages in England,

as would be the case in the Isle of

Man, are reflective of actual loss.

The legal funding system is

always under strain. With

government constraints on legal aid

in civil matters and the complexity

surrounding litigation funding

increasing, a DBA type arrangement

would certainly give claimants a

respite and allow them recourse to

the law in appropriate cases where

they could otherwise ill-afford it. This

could be a measure which, although

it presents some minimal risk to legal

representatives, could give the Manx

public greater access to and

confidence within the litigation

arena, and all at no cost to the

taxpayer.

ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIOISSUE 149

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The advantages of aDBA are that there isno requirement tonotify the opponent ofan arrangement. Also,the claimant will nothave to pay any legalfees (except expenses,such as expert’s fees)until there has been arecovery.

““

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NEWSN e w s | G o v e r n m e n t | F e a t u r e s | C a r s | D i r e c t o r y | A p p o i n t m e n t s | L i f e s t y l e

New broadband service will giveup to 80 Megabits per secondA new superfast fixed line broadband service will be available from

February next year, and thanks to Manx Telecom’s continuedinvestment in fibre optic technology, the new service will beavailable to around 50% of homes and businesses at launch.

Right:Mike Dee,

CEO, Manx Telecom

he new VDSL Plus service will

deliver the fastest fixed line

broadband on the Island, with

speeds of up to 80 Megabits per second

(Mbps) download and up to 10Mbps

upload.

Mike Dee, Manx Telecom CEO,

said: “VDSL Plus represents another

massive leap forward in broadband

speeds and keeps the Isle of Man at the

forefront of superfast broadband

availability. The increasing popularity

of households using multiple devices

such as smartphones, tablets, games

consoles, laptops and internet-enabled

TVs means real demand for higher

broadband speeds for home

entertainment. The improved upload

speeds of VDSL Plus also means

greater efficiency for the ever

increasing services and applications

businesses use over their broadband

connection. This is another major

boost for the Island’s status as a great

place to live and do business and a

result of our long-term commitment to

invest in new technologies like VDSL

and fibre connectivity.”

In their ‘State of the Internet Report’

earlier this year, leading internet

infrastructure supplier Akamai placed

the Isle of Man 4th in their table of

global broadband connectivity. In the

same table, the UK was 16th and

Ireland 39th.

Like all digital line services, the

availability of VDSL Plus is dependent

on the copper line length between the

serving equipment and the service

users’ premises. To achieve the new

higher speeds, lines to the premises

must be 1km or less. The high initial

availability of VDSL Plus from launch is

due to Manx Telecom’s early

investment in fibre optic cabling to

street cabinets and basements (FTTC &

FTTB), bringing more homes and

businesses within the 1km threshold.

100% of the Island’s telephone lines

can already obtain ADSL2 Plus fixed

line broadband, offering download

speeds up to 16Mbps. Manx Telecom

launched the Island’s first VDSL service

in 2011 which offers download speeds

up to 40Mbps, and many thousands of

service users have already opted to

upgrade to this service. By the end of

the year it’s planned that 87% of

premises on the Island will be within

the required threshold to receive VDSL,

with new street cabinets planned for

Douglas, Laxey, Port Erin and Ramsey

over the coming months.

In February 2015, the new VDSL

Plus option will be available to around

50% of all premises.

Mr Dee added: “We are developing

a system to ensure people can quickly

identify whether they are in range of

the new VDSL Plus service and the

typical speed range they can expect on

their line. Working with the local

Internet Service Providers we want to

make moving up to VDSL Plus as

simple and straightforward as possible.

The good news for existing VDSL users

is that they won’t have to change their

existing router to upgrade to VDSL

Plus. We know from feedback on our

VDSL service, that users appreciate

higher speeds, so we expect a high

demand for the new faster VDSL Plus

option.”

T

he announcement was made

at the Island’s recent Energy

Expo, The Royal Manx Show,

where SNX projects were the most

widely recognised at the

Government’s Annual Energy Awards

for the third year running.

MHA Lighting is at the forefront of

LED lighting technology – able to

develop pioneering solutions that

other LED lighting manufacturers

simply can’t. Based in Atherton in the

North West, and an Energy Award

winner themselves at the 2013

ceremony, MHA has designed and

manufactured a game-changing LED

based system that revolutionises the

approach to lighting in commercial,

industrial, public sector and office

environments.

Using patented IP, MHA Lighting

is the only known LED manufacturer

to shine light sideways into an

encapsulation creating Total Internal

Reflection. This avoids direct eye-

contact and provides a safe and

efficient light output that can be

directed precisely to any task area.

Further, by using acrylic rods to focus

and control the light output, the

number of LEDs required is reduced.

This means the products can use high

power LEDs, draw low currents and

have no need to diffuse the output.

Their bespoke lighting systems

have already been adopted in high

profile locations such as the NEC and

Manchester Airport and with an

enviable client list featuring the likes

of GlaxoSmithKline and the NHS,

MHA are helping make enormous

savings (typically 80%) on energy

bills, whilst at the same time

significantly improving quality and

performance.

Steve Brown, Managing Director

of SNX said ‘It is an enormous coup

for SNX to represent the interests of

MHA Lighting on the Island. They

offer the best product I have ever

come across in the lighting sector and

are staffed with highly trained design,

sales and manufacturing staff that are

a joy to deal with. We have already

been involved in trials of their next-

generation LED systems, which offer

staggering upgrade and savings

opportunities. Being able to

commercially bring them to a live

environment on the Isle of Man ahead

of the planned formal launch in

November puts the Island at the

forefront of adopting this cutting edge

technology. MHA have raised the bar

yet again and it is great to see the

Island being one of the very first

markets to benefit.’

A Government representative

from the Isle of Man has already

visited the MHA factory, approving the

technology, and the first trial

installation has now been undertaken

in one of the Island’s schools, with

further orders pending on

confirmation of the finalised

locations. With studies having shown

that good lighting is crucial in

creating the best learning

environment free from distractions,

MHA’s patented LED technology

provides the highest quality uniformly

distributed light closest to natural

indoor daylight. LED lighting does not

produce flicker or hum and PIR

sensors and dimming controls can be

added to the system to further

conserve energy.

The unique patented systems from

MHA for both internal and external

use enables SNX to further extend

their own range of Energy Survey

works into every aspect of lighting

design and control, providing greater

in-depth assessment of existing

systems with costs and payback

analysis on dedicated replacement

solutions.

MHA Lighting systems deliver the

highest quality performance entirely

tailored to the nature of the space,

occupancy and specific use in

question, whether in specialist

healthcare, education facilities,

prisons, car parks, airports or

industrial environments. This has

brought a wealth of testimonials and

ongoing contracts from major

clientele across a broad base of

disciplines, details of which can be

viewed at their website

http://www.mhalighting.co.uk/

SNX and MHA Lighting are now

bringing the full package of products

and services to the Isle of Man,

supported by finance options if

required, where often the savings

achieved in replacement solutions

will more than cover the repayment

costs within the period of the plan.

SNX make energy improvements

and renewable energy generation

accessible to a broad range of

stakeholders - from homeowners, to

businesses, to public bodies - through

their flexible portfolio of energy

consultancy, building performance

testing and renewable technology

services, backed by a supply chain of

leading and innovative manufacturers

and suppliers such as Toshiba,

Panasonic, TiSUN, Beattie Passive,

The Wood Heating Company,

Dimplex, Evance, EnviroVent , Schütz

GmbH, Daikin and now MHA

Lighting, among many others.

SNX has also been actively

training and accrediting Isle of Man

based installers and contractors to

undertake the associated works,

bringing more skillsets to the Island’s

commercial community and keeping

as much revenue as possible within

the Island’s economy. The association

with MHA maintains this ethic, and

training has already been provided to

Island-based survey teams and

installers.

T

SNX strengthens position throughcollaboration with MHA Lighting

SNX, the Isle of Man-based Energy Services & RenewableTechnology specialists, have formed a strategic collaboration with

MHA Lighting, consolidating the company’s position as a leadinginfluencer in transforming the sustainability and energy efficiency

of the Island’s public and private sector building stock.

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ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIO ISSUE 149

NEWSN e w s | G o v e r n m e n t | F e a t u r e s | C a r s | D i r e c t o r y | A p p o i n t m e n t s | L i f e s t y l e

Above:Steve Brown,

MD SNX Ltd, receiving2014 Government

Energy Award fromMHK Graham Cregeen.

Travel

ISLE OF MAN

MARVELLOUS MALAGABegin your day in the Isle of Man,end it on the cosmoplotain capitalof the Andalusian coast on theCosta Del Sol.

THE SHOPPING CAPITALOF SCOTLANDGlasgow boasts the secondlargest shopping centre in the UK,after London, to add to its superbarchitecture and culturalattractions.

In association with

N e w s | G o v e r n m e n t | F e a t u r e s | Tr a v e l | D i r e c t o r y | A p p o i n t m e n t s | L i f e s t y l e

ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIO ISSUE 149

Marvellous Malaga

ore than 3,000 years of

history have passed since

Malaga’s establishment by

the Phoenicians up to achieving the

beautiful, friendly and cosmopolitan

city that enchants tourists from all

over the world today.

Malaga is a Mediterranean seaport

on the Costa del Sol in the Andalucía

region of southern Spain. It is the

second highest populated city in

Andalucía, the sixth in the whole of

Spain and a major tourist destination.

It is famed for its rich architectural

history, delicious Mediterranean

cuisine, outstanding local wines and

beautiful sandy beaches as well as

being the birthplace of Pablo Picasso.

TOP 10 MALAGA LANDMARKSAlcazaba FortressKing Badis of the Zirid Dynasty built

the Alcazaba Fortress in 1040 to

protect the royal family from outside

invaders. Situated on the highest point

of the hill, it’s one of the best-

preserved Alcazaba (from the Arabic

word al-qasbah, which literally

translates to the English word citadel)

in Spain. The Moorish Muslim rulers

that erected the fortress used the

remains (visible in its columns and

pillars) of a Roman theatre lying

adjacent to the Moorish construction.

Castillo de GibralfaroThe ruins of the Gibralfaro castle lie

on the slopes of the Malaga hill

overlooking the city and the

Mediterranean Sea. A Moorish castle

of an unknown origin, Yusuf I of the

Kingdom of Granada built it during the

Phoenician-Punic period.

Malaga CathedralBetween the 16th-18th centuries,

Diego Siloe planned the Malaga

Cathedral also known as Catedral de

la Encarnación on the site of a

mosque, which represented eight

centuries of Muslim power. Though

the construction of the cathedral

continued until the 18th century, it is

still unfinished as the main façade and

south tower is incomplete. Along with

the splendid sculptures and rare

antique architecture, the cathedral

also houses its own museum.

Roman Theatre (Teatro Romano)The Roman Theatre belonging to 1st

Century B.C. lies adjacent to the

Moorish Alcazaba Fortress. Augustus

built it as a medium of entertainment

employing it until the 3rd century.

Later on, the Moors used the remains

of the theatre to construct the

Alcazaba.

M

Begin your day in the Isle of Man, end it on the cosmopolitan capital of theAndelucian coast on the Costa Del Sol. A Citywing flight to Glasgow then gives

you flight options to Malaga from BA, Jet2 and Easyjet.

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Malaga isthe birthplace of

Pablo Picasso

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ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIOISSUE 149

Plaza de la MercedPlaza de la Merced is a large walking

plaza home to the birthplace of

famous painter Pablo Picasso. The

cosmopolitan square is full of cafes

and temporary exhibitions but the

main attraction is Picasso’s birthplace

that includes a a venue incorporating

the painter’s works and art

collections.

Jardines de Pedro Luis AlonsoGardensA garden built on Mediterranean lines

by architect Guerrero Strachan in

1945, Jardines de Pedro Luis Alonso is

one of the post-war historical gardens

designed in both Hispanic and French

styles. It is one of the famous places in

Spain depicting the extraordinary

botanical wealth of Malaga.

Plaza de Toros de La MalaguetaThe Plaza de Toros Malaga or Malaga

Bullring built in 1874 by Joaquín

Rucoba is located right in the heart of

the city near the Castillo de

Gilbralfaro. The arena annually

organises bullfighting contests

starting from the month of April

lasting until September. Feria de

Agosto marks the height of the season

in mid-August when bullfights are a

regular sight.

CAC: Centro de Arte ContemporaneoThe CAC Malaga was built in 2003 to

enhance and promote contemporary

art. Pioneering works of contemporary

artists get to exhibit here. Entry is free.

Buenavista PalaceThe Buenavista Palace was built in the

16th century on the ruins of a Nasrid

palace. The historical edifice was

handed over to the present Museo

Picasso Málaga in 2003 to exhibit

works of Pablo Picasso donated by

members of his family.

Playa de La Malagueta beachThe Playa de La Malagueta beach or

simply the Malaga beach is a popular

beach among both tourists and locals

as it is closest to the city centre. In fact,

the beach is an artificial one made

from sand imported in the 17th

century from the deserts of the

Sahara. Surrounded by many cafes

and restaurants, it is an ideal place to

sunbathe and relax.

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ISLE OF MAN - GLASGOW: Citywing GLASGOW - ISLE OF MAN: Citywing

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GLASGOW - MALAGA: EasyJet MALAGA - GLASGOW: EasyJet

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GLASGOW - MALAGA: Jet2.com MALAGA - GLASGOW: Jet2.com

Calle Rios is the 300 metre main commercial streetof the city and the fifth most expensive shoppingstreet in Spain . . .

MALAGA:HOW TO GET THERE

VIA GLASGOW

N e w s | G o v e r n m e n t | F e a t u r e s | Tr a v e l | D i r e c t o r y | A p p o i n t m e n t s | L i f e s t y l e

ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIO ISSUE 149

A perfect city break

lasgow is Scotland's largest

city and is renowned for its

culture, style and the

friendliness of its people.

Glasgow offers a blend of

internationally-acclaimed museums

and galleries, stunning architecture,

vibrant nightlife, fantastic shopping and

a diverse array of restaurants and bars.

Vibrant and energetic, Glasgow

enjoys a year-round buzz with an arts

scene that regularly produces

productions and high profile exhibitions

that led to the city being crowned

European City of Culture in 1990.

Glasgow was also the UK’s City of

Architecture and Design in 1999 and its

architecture is an attraction in itself.

The city centre has countless

impressive Victorian structures and

then there are the unique masterpieces

of one of the city's most celebrated sons,

the legendary architect and designer

Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

The city has a long-standing

reputation for its live music scene and

is very well off too in terms of city parks.

One of the first cities to be named a

European Capital of Culture, Glasgow

boasts a rich artistic heritage and

history which can be experienced at its

many excellent art galleries, museums

and visitor centres.

Explore the collections of

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

and see Christ of St John of the Cross by

Salvador Dalí alongside other

acclaimed paintings. Other fabulous

artworks and rare artefacts can be

found at the Burrell Collection, the

Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and the

Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery.

The Riverside Museum on the

banks of the River Clyde charts the

history of transport with its superb

collection of antique vehicles while the

Glasgow Science Centre brings the

world of science and technology vividly

to life with hands-on exhibits.

No visit to Scotland’s second largest

city would be complete without a visit

to the impressive Glasgow Cathedral,

one of the few medieval churches to

emerge unscathed from the

Reformation.

Discover independent stores and

charming boutiques alongside big

name brands. Glasgow’s Style Mile is

made up of the pedestrianised

Sauchiehall Street, Buchanan Street

and Argyle Street which offer the

perfect variety of shops.

Explore each individual shopping

centre for a different treat - Buchanan

Galleries has over 90 stores, Princes

Square has five floors of elegant and

upmarket shopping and the St Enoch

Centre is full of top fashion stores, as

well as famous toy emporium Hamleys.

For style and stunning architecture,

head into the Merchant City and the

Italian Centre, full of designer stores

such as Emporio Armani, while the

wider area is home to Ralph Lauren,

Mulberry, Cruise and many

independent gems, cafés and

restaurants.

G

Glasgow has been reborn as a centre of style and vitality set against a backdropof outstanding Victorian architecture. And now this amazing city is just a short hop

thanks to Citywing, who launched scheduled flights rom the Isle of Man toGlasgow in April this year.

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The Glasgow School ofArt, designed in 1896 by

Scottish architect,Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Appointments

ISLE OF MAN

In association with

www.hamblin.co.imT 01624 640420

Kelly Luft Stanley & Ashton

KPMG

Charles Taylor

Vannin Capital

Amber Business Ltd

SMP Partners Group

Dept of Economic Development

Cains Advocates

Cayman National

Equiom Group

Barclays

www.hamblin.co.imT 01624 640420

In association with

ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIO ISSUE 149

evin O’Riordan has joined

established local advocates,

Kelly Luft Stanley & Ashton.

Mr O’Riordan comes to Kelly Luft

after 18 years with Simcocks where

he was a litigation director.

Acknowledged as one of the island’s

leading contentious trust and family

law practitioners he is also a trained

and active mediator in family and civil

matters and current president of the

Isle of Man Law Society.

Originally trained in London, he

had previously been in practice as an

English solicitor for many years and

had also spent time as an attorney in

the Cayman Islands.

He said: “After so long with

Simcocks I felt it was time for a new

challenge. I knew the firm by its

excellent reputation and Jason

Stanley in particular, having served as

vice-president when he was president

of the Isle of Man Law Society and I

was attracted to the prospect of

contributing to a law practice that was

built on such strong personal

foundations but which was also

looking to the future. We see my

joining the firm as an opportunity for

it to grow in new directions, with me

supporting the development of the

practice and generally helping

broaden the firm’s reach.

“As the economy of the Island

changes so too must provision of legal

services; the measures we are looking

to put in place are responses to those

changes.

“While looking to diversify,

however, we shall always remain

mindful to build on the firm’s solid

and respected history, never losing

sight of Kelly Luft’s long tradition of

service to its clients.”

Kelly Luft, now headed by Jason

Stanley and sister-in-law Jenifer

Stanley, has a long and distinguished

history in which Jason’s father Barry,

who sadly passed away in 2012, and

Bill Ashton, who retired in March this

year, played vital roles.

Jason Stanley said: “We are very

pleased to welcome Kevin to the

team. He is highly regarded for his

legal expertise and shares the same

uncompromising standards of

integrity and service we seek to

maintain and on which the firm has

built its reputation over the last 170

years.”

Kelly Luft Stanley & Ashton

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N e w s | G o v e r n m e n t | F e a t u r e s | C a r s | D i r e c t o r y | A p p o i n t m e n t s | L i f e s t y l e

Right:Jason Stanley,

Jenifer Stanley,Kevin O’Riordan K

lients, staff, family and friends

of KPMG gathered for drinks

at the British Embassy on 2nd

October to celebrate David Parsons’

appointment to Director at the firm.

The promotion is the third Director

appointment in three years and

complements what Managing Director

David McGarry refers to as a ‘high

calibre’ team of Directors.

David, who attended Castle Rushen

High School followed by Durham

University, joined KPMG Isle of Man in

1991, training as a chartered

accountant in the audit department.

He then moved to the tax department

in 1995 where he has developed a

wide-range of technical expertise that

he has since bestowed upon clients.

Speaking at the drinks reception,

Managing Director David McGarry

commented: “David is another fine

example of the home-grown talent

that KPMG recruits on a regular basis.

With the appointment of three new

Directors in three years, and eight new

graduates recently joining us on the

training programme, we are destined

to continue on the same path. David’s

appointment is testament to the high

calibre of Directors at KPMG, joining

Greg Jones in the tax department.

Looking back at David’s original

application to KPMG, I am reminded of

the tremendous impression he made

and have since been extremely proud

of the fantastic success of the tax

department, notwithstanding the

challenges we have faced over the

years. This appointment furthers our

staff commitment to KPMG and our

ongoing commitment to the Isle of

Man as a jurisdiction. ”

KPMGRight:

David McGarry,David Parsons,

Greg Jones C

harles Taylor in the Isle of

Man has appointed Amir

Suleman as Director of

Business Development for Charles

Taylor Insurance Fund Services

(CTIFS).

CTIFS is a specialist fund services

business which provides end-to-end

fund administration services to life

companies. These include unit

pricing, box management, automated

dealing and asset/liability matching as

well as a number of specialist services

that many life companies have

difficulty outsourcing, including

portfolio bond administration. Amir

Suleman will be responsible for

business development for CTIFS in

the Isle of Man, across the UK and in

Ireland, Jersey and Guernsey.

Amir brings over 15 years business

development experience in enterprise

systems for the financial services

market. He has worked with single

and multi-family offices, private

equity firms, sovereign wealth funds,

banks and brokerages in the areas of

asset and wealth management, risk

management, treasury and trading.

Jeffrey More, Chief Executive

Officer, Charles Taylor Insurance

Services – Life Insurance Services

(IOM) said: “Many life companies are

seeking ways to improve the pricing

process of their unit linked funds,

which often involves several side

systems and which are perhaps partly

outsourced already. The CTIFS

offering allows the company to retain

full access to their data, control the

parameters under which the funds are

priced, with all the processing

completed in just one system. We

have developed a best-in-class front

and back-office fund administration

service to meet this need.

“I am very pleased to welcome

Amir to Charles Taylor. His long

experience business development in

the financial services sector will be

invaluable as we build our business in

the fund administration market for life

insurers.”

Amir Suleman, Director of

Business Development, Charles

Taylor Insurance Fund Services said:

“Charles Taylor has an excellent

reputation in life insurance

administration and we are now

highlighting our fund administration

services capability. Our proposition

combines Charles Taylor’s expertise

with market leading software which

has been specifically designed for the

life industry. I am looking forward to

working with our expert life insurance

administration team to promote our

professional service to life

companies.”

CCharles Taylor

Left:Georgina Connolly

annin Capital is pleased to

announce the strengthening of

its legal team with the

appointment of Rosemary Ioannou as

senior counsel.

A former senior associate with

leading magic circle law firm Allen &

Overy, Rosemary has in-depth

experience across a wide range of

English and international corporate and

financial disputes, including for large

corporations, banks and other financial

institutions.

Rosemary has particular expertise

in disputes involving breaches of

competition law, acting for clients both

as claimant and defendant, as well as

acting for clients in associated

regulatory investigations by the Office

of Fair Trading and the European

Commission.

Matthew Cox, Director at Vannin

Capital, commented: “I am delighted to

welcome Rosemary to our team. She is

an experienced legal professional who

brings extensive knowledge of

corporate and financial disputes. She

will be an asset to Vannin Capital and

our clients, and further strengthens our

expanding legal team.”

Rosemary added: “I am delighted

to join the team at Vannin. This is an

exciting time for the company as it

looks to expand its presence both in

the UK and further afield. I am

looking forward to using my legal

experience to help the team achieve

its ambitious goals.”

Rosemary’s appointment follows a

number of new hires by Vannin Capital

over the summer months including

leading high court judge, Sir Stephen

Silber, who was appointed chairman of

the firm’s investment committee

together with international arbitrator

Bernard Hanotiau, and experienced Isle

of Man litigator Paul Morris who joined

the board as a non-executive director.

VVannin Capital

ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIOISSUE 149

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Announce yournew appointment!Email text and pic toportfolio@manx.netDeadline for next issue, 05 December!

eorgina Connolly has been

appointed to the board of

Amber Business Limited and

promoted to the role of Senior

Manager within the SMP Group.

Amber Business, a leading

corporate and trust services provider,

was acquired by the SMP Partners

Group of Companies in April 2010.

Amber Business retained its corporate

brand following the acquisition and

has reinforced its position as one of the

Island’s leading providers of

professional services to private and

corporate clients.

Georgina has worked in the

finance sector since 1993 and at senior

and managerial level since 2000. In

2002, she moved into the CSP

environment and has been responsible

for a wide-ranging portfolio of key

client companies, including fulfilling

the role of Company Director for these

client companies and being a

Company Secretary for a licence

holder in the Isle of Man.

GAmber Business Ltd

www.hamblin.co.imT 01624 640420

In association with

ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIO ISSUE 149

laire Mulhern, who

coordinated the drafting and

publication of the Crown

Dependency Guidance Notes on FATCA,

has joined the SMP Partners Group.

She will primarily manage the

Group’s FATCA implementation project

and work closely with colleagues to

ensure compliance with international

information exchange agreements,

whilst also providing ad hoc external

consultancy and advice services.

From its Group Headquarters in the

Isle of Man, SMP Partners provides a

wide range of wealth structuring

solutions to a global client base across

more than 50 jurisdictions through a

network of international offices. It

places paramount importance on client

reputation and confidentiality,

designing and delivering services based

on the highest quality compliance

procedures and internationally-

recognised jurisdictional regulation.

FATCA (The Foreign Account Tax

Compliance Act) and the UK equivalent

Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA)

came into operation in July 2014. The

purpose of the agreements is to

strengthen cross-border information

reporting and compliance with the aim

of detecting and deterring the evasion

of tax.

The Common Reporting Standard

(CRS) which closely follows FATCA, is

due to take effect from 1 January 2016

for at least 48 countries with over 20

other countries already committed to

follow in due course.

The legislation, regulation and

guidance for the IGAs can be complex,

especially as understanding of practical

implementation develops, making

access to expertise in this field vital.

Claire returned to the Isle of Man in

2005 to join the Income Tax Division of

Treasury as a Central Services Manager.

She subsequently moved into a

Technical Manager role in the Division

before more recently working as an

International Co-operation Officer with

particular responsibility for the

automatic exchange of information

(AEOI) and FATCA.

She was involved in the later stages

of the negotiations with both the UK and

US in concluding the

Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs)

signed in 2013, and also coordinated the

drafting and publication of the Crown

Dependency Guidance Notes on FATCA,

issued jointly by the Isle of Man, Jersey

and Guernsey.

Claire has also taken part in

numerous presentations and seminars

regarding FATCA during the last year

and is well regarded within the financial

services industry on and off the Island

for her knowledge in this area.

She said: “I am very pleased and

excited to join SMP Partners and take

responsibility for managing its FATCA

and CRS implementation project and

providing ad hoc advice and

consultancy services.

“It is an opportunityto put into

practice all of the knowledge that I

gained through my work in the Income

Tax Division regarding FATCA and I am

looking forward to the challenge.”

Managing Director Mark Denton

added: “FATCA is a priority and focus in

the financial services industry across

the world at present, although many

TCSPs and financial institutions still fear

the work that it entails. It is vitally

important that firms in the Crown

Dependencies and Overseas Territories

understand IGAs with the UK, US and

other jurisdictions and the implications

for their clients and consider engaging

specialist FATCA advisory services.

“Claire brings to SMP Partners an

in-depth knowledge of FATCA and AEOI

having worked so closely on the

detailed negotiations which led to last

year’s IGAs with the UK and US. She is

acknowledged as an expert in this

important field and brings her wealth of

experience to our business and clients,

ensuring we offer an unrivalled

understanding of the work involved and

best-in-class service delivery.”

SMP Partners Group

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N e w s | G o v e r n m e n t | F e a t u r e s | C a r s | D i r e c t o r y | A p p o i n t m e n t s | L i f e s t y l e

Right:Claire Mulhearn

C

ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIOISSUE 149

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he Department of Economic

Development has announced

the appointment of Paul

Maddocks as Business Development

Manager to its Financial Services team.

John Garland, Head of Corporate

Financial Services, Department of

Economic Development commented:

“Paul will be responsible for managing

the development and implementation

of a programme designed to generate

additional business for the Isle of Man

through strengthening our business

links with the UK regions, particularly

the North of England, Scotland and

Northern Ireland.

“He will also be working closely

with existing financial services

businesses on the Island to help

develop and improve the Isle of Man’s

competitive proposition to ensure their

continued success.”

The Department has undertaken a

number of initiatives this year to

strengthen ties with the UK regions.

For example, it led a significant

Public/Private sector delegation at the

International Festival for Business in

Liverpool earlier this year and the

Financial Services team has supported

the Island’s Fund Management sector

at recent events in Scotland and the

North of England.

The Department has also signed

Memorandums of Understanding this

year with Northern Ireland’s

Department of Enterprise and

Liverpool Vision.

Paul Maddocks has worked for 14

years within the Isle of Man’s Financial

Services industry. This includes

management positions within a major

international banking group.

Paul Maddocks commented: “I’m

looking forward to helping raise the

Isle of Man’s profile in the UK regions

in order to build awareness of the

Island as an International Business

Centre with a successful and diverse

economy.”

TDept of Economic Development

Left:Paul Maddocks

Announce yournew appointment!Email text and pic toportfolio@manx.netDeadline for next issue, 05 December!

Left:Haseeb Qureshi

ains Advocates is expanding

its Accounting Services team

in the face of increased

demand from clients with the

appointment of Haseeb Qureshi who

has a background in both internal and

external audit procedures.

Haseeb, 26, who joins from KPMG

(Isle of Man) where he qualified as a

Chartered Certified Accountant, will

be responsible for managing a

portfolio of corporate clients, focusing

on commercial and private

investment structures.

“We are delighted to welcome

someone of Haseeb’s calibre and

enthusiasm at a time when we are

experiencing a significant growth

spiral,” said Andy Davies, divisional

director of Cains Accounting Services.

Haseeb, a weight lifting

enthusiast who lives in Onchan said:

“I’m very much looking forward to the

challenge offered in working with

Cains and being part of such an

enthusiastic and experienced team.”

CCains Advocates

Left:Andrew Hardman

he Cayman National Group

are pleased to announce the

appointment of Andrew

Hardman as Manager of Custodian

Services at Cayman National Bank

and Trust Company (Isle of Man) Ltd.

Andrew is a Chartered Company

Secretary with over thirty

years experience in the funds and

global custody arena. He started his

career in the North West of England

and then moved to Jersey with

Midland Bank Trust Corporation.

Prior to joining Cayman National,

Andrew headed the Isle of Man

branch of BNP Paribas Securities

Services, where he also served as

Managing Director and Company

Secretary of its Trust Company. He

was for several years a

senior manager with RBSI Custody

Bank prior to its acquisition by BNP

Paribas.

Having moved to the Isle of Man in

1987 to manage a fund dealing

operation for an investment arm of

TSB Bank, Andrew was subsequently

involved in the creation of a sister

office in Luxembourg with an

interlude as a Director of a Private

Trust Company. He has served on a

number of local industry and

professional bodies including as a

Committee member of the Isle of Man

Fund Managers Association.

TCayman National

N e w s | G o v e r n m e n t | F e a t u r e s | C a r s | D i r e c t o r y | A p p o i n t m e n t s | L i f e s t y l e

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ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIO ISSUE 149

eading international trust and

corporate services provider,

Equiom, has announced the

appointment of Andrew Halsall as

FATCA and Regulatory Reporting

Manager.

The new position has been created

in response to the increasing complexity

of requirements around FATCA and the

Common Reporting Standard and is

intended to ensure the highest standards

of compliance and client care in relation

to automatic exchange of information.

Commenting on the appointment,

Group Compliance Director, Mike Nudd

said: “Equiom recognises that FATCA,

and in due course, the Common

Reporting Standard are going to

significantly increase the regulatory

reporting obligations of the Group for its

clients. We need to make sure that

Equiom fulfils its obligations under

FATCA and Andy will play an essential

part in ensuring that we comply with the

necessary standards”.

Andy will be responsible for

proactively offering guidance directly to

Equiom’s clients in order to deal with

the new regime. In addition to this he

will provide advice and support to

Equiom’s staff in managing any FATCA

related queries.

Andy commented: “I welcome the

challenge of this new role which builds

on my previous FATCA experience. It’s

a great opportunity to become part of a

dedicated team in such a progressive

and ambitious environment and I look

forward to playing my part in ensuring

that Equiom provides the best possible

service to our clients”.

Equiom Group

Hamblin House, 5 Upper Church Street,Douglas, IM1 1EA

Are you a recent Graduate orA Level school leaver?

Do you have Grade C MathsGCSE or above?

Are you happy to workshift patterns?

If so, we have an exciting opportunityfor you. Please contact Tom:T: (01624) 640420W: www.hamblin.co.imE: tom@hamblin.co.im

L

arclays has appointed Gareth

Rowlands as head of business

banking in the Isle of Man and

has made seven other appointments to

the business banking team.

Mr. Rowlands will manage the team

of relationship managers that look after

a diverse portfolio of local and

international businesses. The team

offer a range of business products from

traditional business accounts to

lending, cash management, foreign

exchange and treasury solutions.

Before joining Barclays, Mr.

Rowlands was area director of

Lombard Manx Leasing Limited with

offices in the Isle of Man and Gibraltar.

He has worked in the banking

industry since 1983 having lead teams

within the retail, premium,

international, corporate and asset

finance businesses.

David Boyle, Janice Harper-Watson,

Lynne Ralph, Gareth Roby, Mark Willis

and Ryan Windell have all joined the

business banking team this year.

Stuart Nelson, head of corporate

and intermediaries at Barclays, said:

“Gareth brings a wealth of experience

to the team having successfully worked

with a diverse client base across many

banking and specialist areas.

“Barclays is committed to growing

the expertise and product offerings in

specialist banking areas offshore and

Gareth will be a key driver in this

development.

“It is also exciting to welcome a

number of new members to the

business banking team this year

showing that we have added strength to

our offering in this area.”

Barclays

B

Directory

ISLE OF MAN

Isle of Man Airport Flight Schedules

Isle of Man Airport Contact Information

Isle of Man Business Directory:

Accountants

Advocates

Banks - Licenceholders

Investment Companies

Life Assurance Companies

Information - The Isle of Man

Key locations, statistics

Its Constitution

Tax Allowances, Financial Incentives

INSIDE:NEWWINTERAIRLINESCHEDULES

ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIO ISSUE 149

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BELFAST

Tel. 0871 200 0440www.citywing.com

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ISLE OF MAN - DUBLIN DUBLIN - ISLE OF MAN

BIRMINGHAM

Tel. 0871 700 2000www.flybe.com

DUBLIN

Tel. 0871 718 5000www.aerlingus.com

GLASGOW

Tel. 0871 200 0440www.citywing.com

GLOUCESTER

Tel. 0871 200 0440www.citywing.com

ISLE OF MAN AIRPORT FLIGHT SCHEDULES

REFERENCENEWSN e w s | G o v e r n m e n t | F e a t u r e s | C a r s | D i r e c t o r y | A p p o i n t m e n t s | L i f e s t y l e

DEP ARR M T W T F S S

0950 1330 •

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1410 1555 •

ISLE OF MAN - GENEVA (From 13 Dec) GENEVA - ISLE OF MAN (From 13 Dec)BIRMINGHAM

Tel. 0871 700 2000www.flybe.com

In association with Book online: citywing.com

Some of the destinationslisted in these schedulesare seasonal and applyonly to certain times ofthe year.

If in any doubt, pleasecheck with the individualairline for confirmation.

ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIOISSUE 149

LIVERPOOL

Tel. 0905 821 0905www.easyjet.com

LONDON CITY

Tel. 0844 493 0787www.ba.com

LIVERPOOL

Tel. 0871 700 2000www.flybe.com

LONDON GATWICK

Tel. 0905 821 0905www.easyjet.com

MANCHESTER

Tel. 0871 700 2000www.flybe.com

NEWCASTLE

Tel. 0871 200 0440www.citywing.com

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ISLE OF MAN - LIVERPOOL LIVERPOOL - ISLE OF MAN

Alder Dodsworth & Co.,22 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 622865

Ambitions Ltd,26 Finch Road,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 614841

Baker Tilly Isle of Man, P.O. Box 952a Lord StreetDouglasTel. +44 1624 693900info@bakertillyiom.com

BDO (Isle of Man) LLC,Analyst House, 20-26 Peel Rd., Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 652000mail@pkfiom.com

Boothmans, Millennium House,Victoria Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 611926bca@boothmans.com

Nicola Bowker & Co.,Commissioners Offices,New Road,Laxey.Tel. +44 1624 861271

Browne Craine & Co, Burleigh Manor, Peel Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 629369burleigh_manor@mcb.net

Corlett & Co,Ellan Vannin Cottage,Baldrine.Tel. +44 1624 861060

Callin & Co, 6-7 Fort William,Head Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 675528callin@manx.net

Callow Matthewman & Co,Atholl House,29/31, Hope Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 622752Ramsey Office Tel 814494

John Clarke & Co,Ragnall House,Peel Road,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 661821gentrex@mcb.net

R H Corkill & Co. Ltd,10 Auckland Terrace,Ramsey.Tel. +44 1624 816921

Ernst & Young,Rose House,51-59 Circular Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 691800www.ey.com/im

Douglas & Co, 11 Circular Road,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 628571

Edwards & Hartley, Peregrine House, Peel Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 622302edwardsandhartley@manx.net

Evolution Accounting Ltd.,West Suite, Ragnall House,18 Peel Road,Douglas.Tel: +44 1624 611160accounting@evolution.co.im

J. C. Fargher,Ballafreer House,Union Mills.Tel. +44 1624 851190

Finnie & Co, 6, Goldie Terrace, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 621523finnies@altavista.com

Crowe Morgan,8, St George’s Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 665100admin@crowemorgan.co.im

Fowler & Co.,First Floor, Norton House,41 Arbory Street,Castletown.Tel. +44 1624 827848

Fryers Bell & Co, 27, Athol Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 639850fryers_bell@manx.net

Galloway Smith & Co, 9, Hope Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 661800ocs@advsys.co.uk

KPMG, Heritage Court,41, Athol Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 681000mfayle@kpmg.com

Greystone LLC,18 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel +44 1624 620711mail@greystone.im

Haven Administration Ltd,28 Victoria Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 625793

Harding Lewis Ltd,34 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel +44 1624 679524

A. M Gerrard,34 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel +44 7624 490720

K G Hegarty & Co.,Peregrine House, Peel Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 622118

HF Accounts,Fairview,Cronk Road,Port St Mary.Tel. +44 1624 835735

ICM Accounting,Prospect Chambers,Prospect Hill,Douglas.Tel +44 1624 682400

In Safe Hands Business Services75 Bucks RoadDouglas,IM1 3EFTel. +44 1624616133contact@insafehands.im

J B Quirk BSc FCCA,Milbourn House13 St. George's StreetDouglas.Tel. +44 1624 616660

Jessup & Co, 44 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 625666

R. P. Harker, Maskani Yetu, Garey Close, Fox-daleTel. +44 1624 675450

Jones & Co, Penthouse Suite,Analyst House,Peel Road,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 617344

L. G. Kelly,Parkfield,Glencrutchery Road,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 611019

Peter D. Lace,18 Hope Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 661640

M. G. Accountancy & Taxation,PO Box 372,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 619022mgcomp@manx.net

David J. Hill & Co, Museum Buildings,Church Road,Port Erin.Tel. +44 1624 833776

Matthew Edwards & Co, Clinch’sHouse, Lord Street, DouglasTel. +44 1624 663166audit@matthew-edwards.com

Noble & Co, Abacus House, Mona Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 624633abacus@manx.net

Julie Oates,2 Camlork Place,Union Mills.Tel. +44 1624 852552

Paul & Co, 5 Market Place,Peel.Tel. +44 1624 844188

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC,Sixty Circular Road,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 689689

PurpleAccounts,Salisbury House,Victoria Street,Douglas.Tel: +44 1624 618002enquiries@purpleaccounts.com

Sabre Management Services Ltd,2nd FloorAnglo International HouseLord StreetDouglas.Tel. +44 1624 629409

Shimmin Wilson & Co, 13-15 Hope Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 627744

SMP Accounting & Tax LimitedClinch’s HouseLord StreetDouglasTel: +44 (0) 1624 683229info@smppartners.com

T Leach & Co,Bradda House,Bradda Road,Port Erin. Tel. +44 1624 832891

TABS,Rechabite Hall,Allan Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 674913

Thomas & Company, 36, Finch Road, DouglasTel. +44 1624 670577

Thompsons,1st Floor,Royal Trust House,60-62 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 611108

E Thorn,47 Buttermere Drive,Onchan.Tel. +44 1624 613782

Crossleys, P. O. Box 1, Portland House, Station Road, Ballasalla.Tel. +44 1624 822816

Crowe Clark Whitehill,6th Floor,Victory House, Prospect Hill, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 627335mail@crowecw.im

David Gelling & Associates,44 Main Road,Onchan.Tel. +44 1624 615500

Deloitte LLP, The Old Courthouse,Athol Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 672332

Chris Hollingworth,20 Finch Road,Douglas.Tel +44 7624 433346

Michael Turner & Co, 17 Hope Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 629619mbturner@manx.net

WFZ Services Ltd,2 Ballanawin,The Strang,Union Mills.Tel. +44 1624 852198

David Wilcock B.Com, FCA, Pine View,Glen Vine Road,Glen Vine.Tel. +44 1624 855110david.wilcock@manx.net

T. P. Winnell & Co,, 7, Hill Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 670022mail@fiscalservices.co.im

R G Wright,71 Circular Road,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 674894

PO Box 25, 26-28 Athol St,Douglas, Isle of ManIM99 1BD+44 (0) 1624 662020mail@msiom.comwww.msiom.com

Grant Thornton,Exchange House,54/62 Athol Street,Douglas . Tel: 44+ 1624 639494gtiom@im.gt.com

Celtic Associates Ltd,Chartered Accountants,One, The Parade,Castletown.Tel: +44 1624 822022Email: email@celt.im

ACCOUNTANTS

ISLE OF MAN BUSINESS DIRECTORY

J. H. Maddrell ACA, 1, Meadowfield, Port Erin.Tel. +44 1624 833535jhj@mcb.net

Martin Associates Ltd,Meadowcroft,Ballabrooie Road,Peel.Tel. +44 1624 845343

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ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIO ISSUE 149

REFERENCENEWSN e w s | G o v e r n m e n t | F e a t u r e s | C a r s | D i r e c t o r y | A p p o i n t m e n t s | L i f e s t y l e

In association with

Advocates Smith TaubitzUnsworth Limited,Barrule Chambers,36 Finch Road, Douglas.Tel +44 1624 677888reception@advocates.co.im

Appleby,33-37 Athol Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 647647www.applebyglobal.comIOM@applebyglobal.com

Marie Ashworth,2nd Floor,Harbour Mews,Parliament Square,Castletown.Tel. +44 1624 822880

BridsonHalsall,20 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 614422www.iomlaw.com

Cains, Fort Anne, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 638300law@cains.com

Cains Gordon Bell, Auckland Chambers,Auckland Terrace,Ramsey.Tel. +44 1624 811311

Callin Wild, Bank Chambers, 15-19, Athol St,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 623195www.callinwild.commail@callinwild.com

Carter’s, Court View Chambers,12 Mount Havelock, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 662809

Carter Jones McDonald, Athol Chambers, 21, Athol Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 629627

Conti, 17, Circular Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 670003www.contiadvocates.com

Corbridges, Chancery House,22 Finch Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 690060

Nigel M Cordwell,2nd Floor Suite,6 Hill Street,Douglas,Tel. +44 1624 677277

Corlett Bolton & Co., 4, Finch Road,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 676868mail@corlettbolton.com

Dickinson Cruickshank Ramsey,Masonic Buildings,Water Street, Ramsey.Tel. +44 1624 812107

Dougherty Quinn,The Chambers,5 Mount Pleasant,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 626999info@dq.im

Gelling Johnson Farrant, 24, Athol Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 675367

Hannan Law5 Hill StreetDouglasTel: +44 1624 628900mail@hannanlaw.im

Jones & Co,Finch Chambers,28 Finch Road,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 629200

Laurence Keenan, Victoria Chambers,47, Victoria Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 611933info@lklaw.co.im

Kerruish Law & Trust, 5th Floor,Anglo International House, Bank Hill,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 623919

Long & Humphrey,The Old Courthouse,Athol Street,Douglas.Tel: + 44 (0)1624 651951

Kelly, Luft, Stanley & Ashton,2 Sydney Mount, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 674316

Ian Kermode,Court View Chambers,14 Albert Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 611117mail@ik.im

M&P Legal, New Court Chambers,23-25 Bucks Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 695800law@mplegal.im

MannBenham Advocates Ltd, 49 Victoria Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 639350enquiries@mannbenham.com

Old Court Chambers,Eight Finch Road,Douglas.Tel: +44 1624 641580info@oldcourtchambers.im

Pringle Law,Victoria Court,16 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 612200

Quinnlegal,30 Ridgeway Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 665522mail@quinnlegal.im

Simcocks, Ridgeway House,Ridgeway Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 690300mail@simcocks.com

Judy Thornley,Beach House,Bay View Road,Port St Mary.Tel. +44 1624 833708

Turnbull Advocate,1st Floor,Exchange House,54-58 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 614516

Laurence Vaughan-Williams,Museum Buildings,Church Road,Port Erin.Tel. +44 1624 836757barrister@manx.net

Lawrence J Weatherill,20 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 674994

John Wright,16 Willowbrook Gardens,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 611999

AIB Bank (CI) Ltd, Isle of Man Branch, 10, Finch Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 639639one@aib.im

Anglo Irish Bank Corporation(International) PLCJubilee BuildingsVictoria StreetDouglasTel. +44 1624 698000

Bank of Ireland (Isle of Man) Ltd,P. O. Box 246,Christian Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 644200www.boioffshore.com

Bank of Scotland PLC,PO Box 19, Evergreen House,43 Circular Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 644000offshore_enquiries@bankofscotland.co.uk

Barclays Bank PLC, Eagle Court, Circular Rd, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 684444iom@offshorebanking.barclays.com

Barclays Private ClientsInternational Ltd, PO Box 9, Barclays House, Vic-toria Street, DouglasTel. +44 1624 684444

Cayman National Bank & TrustCompany,4-8 Hope Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 646900banking@cnciom.com

Duncan Lawrie (IOM) Ltd, 14/15 Mount Havelock, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 620770iom@duncanlawrie.com

Conister Bank Ltd, Clarendon House, Victoria Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 694694

Britannia International Ltd,Britannia House, Athol Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 681100enquiries@britanniainternational.com

HSBC Bank PLC,HSBC House, Ridgeway Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 684840

Isle of Man Bank Ltd, 2, Athol Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 637000

Lloyds TSB Offshore Ltd., PO Box 111,Peverial Buildings,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 638200

Habib European Bank Ltd, 14 Athol Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 622554

Nationwide International Ltd, Samuel Harris House,St George’s Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 696000

Merrill Lynch Bank & Trust Co.(Cayman) Ltd, Circular Rd, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 688600

Barclays Private Bank & Trust(Isle of Man) Limited, 4th Floor, Queen Victoria HouseVictoria StreetDouglas.Tel. +44 1624 682828

Kleinwort Benson Bank (IOM) Ltd,St George’s Court,Upper Church Street, DouglasTel. +44 1624 643270www.closewm.combankingiom@closewm.com

Nedbank Private Wealth Ltd,St Mary’s Court,20 Hill Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 645000

RBS Coutts Bank (Manx) Ltd,PO Box 59,Royal Bank House,2 Victoria Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 632222

Permanent Bank International Ltd.,Hillary House,Prospect Hill, Douglas,Tel. +44 1624 673373info@permanent-bank.comwww.permanent-bank.com

Santander UK PLCPO Box 12319/21 Prospect Hill, DouglasTel 01624 641888enquries@santander.co.im

Standard Bank (IOM) Ltd, Standard Bank House,One Circular Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 643643www.sboff.comsbiom@standardbank.com

The Royal Bank of ScotlandInternational Ltd, Royal Bank House,2 Victoria Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 646464

The Royal Bank of Scotland TrustCompany (IOM) Ltd.,Royal Bank House,Victoria Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 646464

Zurich Bank International Ltd, PO Box 422,43-51 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 671666

The Standard Bank of South Africa,Standard Bank House,One Circular Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 643643www.sboff.comsbiom@standardbank.com

ADVOCATES

BANKS - LICENCEHOLDERS

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REFERENCE

ISLE OF MAN BUSINESS DIRECTORY

Abacus Trust Company Ltd,Sixty Circular Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 689600

AXA WF Distibutors (IOM) Ltd,Royalty House,Walpole Ave, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 643333

BlackRock (Isle of Man) Ltd3rd Floor, Atlantic House,Circular Road,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 662255

Collins Stewart (CI) Ltd,Anglo International House,Bank Hill, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 690100

Caledonian Fund Services(Europe) Ltd,PO Box 172, 4th FloorOne Circular Road, Douglaswww.caledonian.comTel: +44 1624 640150.

CMI Fund Managers (IOM) Ltd,Clerical Medical House, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 638888

Fedelta Trust Limited,29-31 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 622331mail@fedelta.com

Isle of Man Assurance Ltd.,IOMA House,Hope Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 681200ioma@ioma.co.im

Fund Management Services Ltd,P.O. Box 156, 18-20 North Quay, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 688300fundservices@im.fortisbank.com

Kleinwort Benson Bank (IOM) Ltd,St George’s Court,Upper Church Street, DouglasTel. +44 1624 643270www.closewm.combankingiom@closewm.com

Laxey Partners Ltd,4th Floor,Derby House,64 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel +44 1624 690900

Lloyds TSB IndependentFinancial Advisers Ltd, P. O. Box 12, Peveril Buildings, Peveril Square,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 641741

Maitland Investment Services(IoM) Limited,Falcon Cliff,Palace Road,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 630000

Sabre Management Services Ltd,2nd FloorAnglo International HouseLord StreetDouglas.Tel. +44 1624 629409

Neville James Fund Managers Ltd,Park House,Isle of Man Business Park,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 670500

Nedgroup Investments (IOM) Ltd.,1st Floor, Samuel Harris House,5-11 St George’s Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 645150nedgroupinvestments.com

Ramsey Crookall & Co, Securities House,38-42 Athol Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 673171dealers@ramseycrookall.com

RBSI Fund Administration Ltd.,PO Box 151,Royal Bank House,Victoria Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 646464

Royal Bank of Scotland TrustCompany (IOM) Ltd,PO Box 151,Royal Bank House,Victoria Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 646464

Lorne House Trust Limited,Lorne House, Castletown.Tel. +44 1624 823579

Creechurch Capital Limited,Knox House,16-18 Finch Road,Douglas.Tel: +44 (0) 653800info@creechurchcapital.com

GAM Administration Ltd, 11 Athol Street, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 632632info@gam.com

Fortis Fund Services Ltd,P.O. Box 156, 18-20 North Quay, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 688300fundservices@im.fortisbank.com

SMP Fund Services LimitedClinch’s HouseLord StreetDouglasTel: +44 (0) 1624 683229info@smppartners.com

Hansard International Ltd, Harbour Court,Lord Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 (0) 1624 688000

HPB Assurance Limited,IOMA House,Hope Street,Douglas.Tel +44 1624 681200info@hpba.co.im

IntegraLife International Limited,1st Floor,6 Goldie Terrace,Upper Church Street,Douglas.Tel +44 1624 654600

Royal Skandia Life Assurance Ltd,PO Box 159,Skandia House, King Edward Road,Onchan.Tel. +44 (0) 1624 655555

Zurich International Life Ltd,43-51 Athol Street, Douglas,Tel. +44 1624 662266

Isle of Man Assurance Group, IOMA House,Hope Street, Douglas.Tel +44 1624 681200

LCL International Life AssuranceCompany Limited,St George’s Court,Upper Church Street,Douglas.Tel +44 1624 683683

Nordea Life & Pensions Ltd,Island House,Isle of Man Business Park,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 694444

RL360 Insurance CompanyLimitedRL360 House, Isle of ManBusiness Park, DouglasTel. +44 1624 681681csc@rl360.com

AXA IOM Ltd,Royalty House,Walpole Ave, Douglas.Tel +44 1624 643333

Canada Life International Ltd.,Canada Life House,Alexandra Road,Castletown.Tel. +44 1624 820200info@canadalifeint.com

Friends Provident International Ltd,Royal Court,Castletown.Tel +44 1624 821212

Global Life Assurance Limited,St George’s Court,Upper Church Street,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 618611

Thomas Miller Investment(Isle of Man) Limited,Level 2, Samuel Harris House, 5-11 St Georges Street, Douglas.Tel +44 1624 645200tminvestment.com

WH Ireland (IOM) LimitedAthol House,21a-23 Athol Street,Douglas.Tel: +44 1624 602020iomenquiries@wh-ireland.co.im

CLI Institutional Limited Ltd.,Canada Life House,Alexandra Road,Castletown.Tel. +44 1624 820200info@canadalifeint.com

CMI Insurance Company Ltd,Clerical Medical House, Victoria Road,Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 638888

Capital International Ltd,Capital House,Circular Road, Douglas.Tel. +44 1624 654200info@capital-iom.comwww.capital-iom.com

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that this directory is as comprehensive as possible,the Publishers cannot take responsibility for any errors or omissions contained herein.

INVESTMENT COMPANIES

LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANIES

ISLE OF MAN BUSINESS DIRECTORY

NEWSN e w s | G o v e r n m e n t | F e a t u r e s | C a r s | D i r e c t o r y | A p p o i n t m e n t s | L i f e s t y l e

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A Global PartnerThe Isle of Man is a leadinginternational business centrerenowned for its innovation,professionalism and long standingpolicy of positive engagement withinternational initiatives andstandards. The Isle of Man operatesa policy of low taxes with astandard rate on individuals of 10%,a higher rate of 20% and generouspersonal allowances. There is a capof £120,000 on the amount ofincome tax payable by an individualeach year. The Isle of Man strives tobe a model of political stability andfinancial supervision and has longbeen committed to internationalstandards of tax transparency.There is no capital gains tax, wealthtax, stamp duty, death duty orinheritance tax.

Taxation allowanceSingle Person: £9,300Married Couple: £18,600Additional Personal Allowance: £6,400

Dept of EconomicDevelopment

The Department of EconomicDevelopment’s financial assistancescheme offers support to qualifyingbusinesses (up to):40% equipment grants40% building grants either for newbuild or for rents payable;40% revenue grants

Capital Douglas

Population 80,058

Land Area 572 sq km - 227 sq ml

Population density 133 people/sq km(336/sq mile)

Location Irish Sea, 50km (31 miles)from Ireland, 50km from UK

Longest River Sulby, 17km - 10.5 miles

Highest Peak Snaefell, 621 metres,2036 feet

Head of State Her Majesty the Queen,Lord of Mann

LieutenantGovernor

His ExcellencyMr Adam Wood

Chief Minister Hon Allan Bell MHK

Presidentof Tynwald Hon Clare Christian MLC

Speaker ofHouse of Keys Hon Steve Rodan SHK

www.gov.im

THE ISLE OF MAN . . .

INFORMATION

Ramsey

Douglas

CastletownPort Erin

Peel

ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIOISSUE 149

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2013 Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TDi SE4-door saloon Silver Metallic with Anthracite Cloth interior, Climate Air Conditioning, CruiseControl, 17” Alloy Wheels, Park Distance Control, DAB Digital Radio, driversinformation system, Only 8,000 Miles From New, Vast Saving on new price

£14,995 • £84 per week

2012 (Dec) Vauxhall Agila 1.2Ecoflex SE Silver Metallic with Anthracite Cloth, Fitted with Air Conditiong, CD Player,Privacy Glass, Alloy Wheels, Electric Pack, Only covered 800 miles in as newcondition! £7,995 • £45 per week

2011 (Late) Nissan Qashqai 1.5 DCiAcenta Black Metallic with Anthracite Cloth, Climate Air Con, Alloy Wheels PaintedGrey, Bluetooth, CD Player, Remote Central Locking, Immaculate Condition £9,995 • £57 per week

2011 (Late) Vauxhall Meriva 1.7 CDTi ExclusiveAuto Silver Grey Metallic with Anthracite Cloth, Climate Air Con, CD Player, AlloyWheels, Multi-Function Wheels, Plus Much More, Only 12,000 Miles As New £5,995 • £34 per week

2011 Peugeot 207 Sport SW 1.6 HDiEstate Aluminium Silver Metallic with Anthracite Cloth, Fitted with CD Player,Panoramic Glass Roof, Alloy Wheels, Air Conditioning, Front Fog Lights,Remote Locking. Very Spacious, Only 10,000 Miles From New

£8,595 • £49 per week

2011 Toyota Yaris 1.0 VVTiT Spirit Chilli Red with Anthracite Cloth Upholstery, Fitted with Climate Air Con, CDPlayer, Park Distance Control, Front Fog Light, Electric Mirrors, Alloy Wheels,Only 9,000 Miles from new, immaculate £7,895 • £44 per week

2011 Nissan Note 1.6 N-TecAuto Cappuccino Metallic with Anthracite Cloth Upholstery, Fitted with ClimateAir Con, Sat Nav, Bluetooth, Privacy Glass, Alloy Wheels Painted Grey, DriversInformation System, 12,000 Miles As New £7,895 • £44 per week

2011 (Late) Toyota Auris 1.3 TR5-door Electric Blue Metallic with Anthracite Cloth, Climate Air Con, CD Player, AlloyWheels, Remote Central Locking, Only 24,000 Miles Immaculate Condition £7,695 • £43 per week

2010 (Late) Audi A3 2.0 TDi 140bhp S Line5-door Phantom Black Metallic with Half Black Leather, Climate Air Conditioning,18” Alloy Wheels, CD Player, Cruise Control, Only 38,000 Miles AbsolutelyImmaculate £11,495 • £64 per week

2010 Vauxhall Corsa 1.3 CDTi Life5-door Black Metallic with Anthracite Cloth Interior, Fitted with Air Conditioning,CD Player, Traction Control, Remote Central Locking, Only 19,000 Miles FromNew £5,895 • £33 per week2005 Toyota Rav 4 2.05-door Dark Blue Metallic with Anthracite Cloth, Fitted with Air Con, CD Player, AlloyWheels, Traction Control, Power Steering, Remote Central Locking, Only45,000 Miles with Full Service History £5,695 • £32 per week2009 Toyota Yaris 1.0 VVTi T23-door Silver Metallic with Anthracite Cloth, Fitted with All Usual Extras, 25,000 Miles

£5,495 • £31 per week

2007 Hyundai Tuscon 4WD 2.0 CRDTiDiesel Silver Metallic with Anthracite Cloth, Climate Air Con, Alloy Wheels, PrivacyGlass, CD Player, Remote Central Locking, 58,000 Miles From New £5,995 • £34 per week

2005 Toyota Avensis 1.8 T3-X SaloonAuto Silver Metallic with Anthracite Cloth, Fitted with All Usual Extras including,Climate Air Con, CD player, Park Distance Control, Alloy Wheels, RemoteCentral Locking, Only 31,000 Miles From New £5,295 • £30 per week

2005 Ford Fusion 1.45-door Steel Grey Metallic with Anthracite Cloth, Fitted with Air Con, CD Player, PlusAll Usual Extras, Only 19,000 Miles From New, Immaculate

£4,495 • £26 per week

2005 Mazda 2 1.45 Door Grey Metallic with Cloth Upholstery, Fitted with CD Player, Air Con, ElectricPack, Alloy Wheels, Remote Central Locking, Only 14,000 Miles from new

£3,895 • £22 per week

2004 Rover 75 2.5 V6 ClubTourer Silver Metallic with Anthracite Velour, Fitted with All Usual Extras, includingSat Nav, Tv Function, 18” Alloy Wheels, Full Electric Pack, Remote CentralLocking, Only 30,000 Miles, Local From Virtually New, Immaculate Condition

£3,695 • £21 per week

2004 Volkswagen Polo 1.2 SE3 Door Techno Violet Metallic with Anthracite Cloth, Climate Air Con, Alloy Wheels,CD Player, Remote Central Locking, Only 40,000 Miles From new

£3,495 • £22 per week

2005 Renault Scenic PrivilegeAuto Pearl Blue Metallic with Full Beige Leather, Fitted with All Usual ExtrasIncluding, Climate Air Con, Alloy Wheels, CD Player, Electric Pack, OnlyCovered 35,000 Miles From New £3,395 • £21 per week

2002 Jaguar S-Type 3.0 SE AutoSaloon Mercury Silver Metallic with Full Black Leather, Fitted with All Usual ExtrasIncluding Wood & Leather Steering Wheel, CD, Alloy Wheels, Climate Air Con,Cruise Control, Only 70,000 Miles with Full Service History, Immaculate £2,995 • £19 per week

2005 Ford Fiesta 1.25 Zetec5 Door Low Insurance Car, Fitted with All Usual Extras Including Alloy Wheels, CDPlayer, Air Con, Low Mileage £2,695 • £15 per week

COMMERCIAL2008 Citroen Berlingo 1.6 HDiSide Load Bright White with Grey Cloth, Nice Clean Van, Low Mileage £4,295 + VAT

THISMONTH’SFEATURECAR

2013 Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TDi SE4-door saloon Silver Metallic with Anthracite Cloth interior, Climate AirConditioning, Cruise Control, 17” Alloy Wheels, Park DistanceControl, DAB Digital Radio, drivers information system, Only8,000 Miles From New, Vast Saving on new price

£14,995 • £84 per week

P l e a s e f o l l o w u s o n

% 0 1 6 2 4 8 1 5 8 5 8

T h e Q u a y s i d e , D e r b y R o a d , R a m s e yWEEKLY FINANCE FIGURES BASED ON 10% DEPOSIT OVER 48 MONTHS AT 7.5%

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Lifestyle

ISLE OF MAN

In association with

A Week in the Life:Charlie Woolnough,Co-founder,Coin Corner.com

Q&A:Guy WolstencroftOwner,Isle of Man Hearing Solutions

Gig Guide:Your gig agenda for Belfast, Liverpool,Manchester and London

My name is Charlie Woolnough. I worked in the hedge fund industryin London for 10 years before returning to live in the Isle of Manlast year. I now provide non-executive directorship services to a

number of hedge fund managers as well as advisingCoinCorner.com, a Bitcoin technology services business I co-

founded with three partners in May 2014. I’m married to Faye-Marie.We have a son called Dylan who is 3 years old and I have also

have a son called Leo who is 6 years old and who spends part ofeach week with us.

A Week in the Life

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NEWSN e w s | G o v e r n m e n t | F e a t u r e s | C a r s | D i r e c t o r y | A p p o i n t m e n t s | L i f e s t y l e

Above:Charlie pictured with sons

Dylan (centre) and Leo

Monday

My alarm (the wonderfully cheesy

Rocky theme tune, Eye of the Tiger,

which is meant to inspire me to jump

out of bed) goes at 6.30am. I open one

eye, realise I’m still tired, and take an

executive decision to have a lie-in. I’ve

long since realised that dragging myself

out of bed when I’m tired is

counterproductive. Rocky has failed

today. I wake at 8am and, feeling much

better, I emerge from my duvet to tackle

the week. My wife is running out the

door to work. My son is still fast asleep.

Dylan and I eat breakfast before I

drop him off at nursery and head to the

CoinCorner office in Ballasalla for the

morning. We have a weekly strategy

meeting at 10am at which we discuss

the previous week and our plans for the

week ahead. There are some big

developments in the pipeline and we

are currently speaking to several

potential investors, so there is a lot to

discuss. The meeting takes place over

several games of pool, as usual.

I spend the afternoon at my office in

Douglas re-reading a 1,012 page board

pack for a high profile new fund launch.

The launch meeting is in Dublin the

following day.

Tuesday

I fly to Dublin for the hedge fund

board meeting. The meeting lasts 4

hours, which leaves me with an hour to

kill before I need to head to the airport

for my return flight. My fellow non-

executive director offers to take me for

a pint of Guinness to fill the time. I take

one look at the trees bent double outside

the window by the high winds and,

being a slightly nervous flyer, I decide

it’s a good idea.

Our first attempt at landing at

Ronaldsway is aborted due to high

winds. Not being the greatest flyer I’m

not exactly ecstatic about the 20 minute

impromptu tour of the Island’s Southern

coastline which follows while we wait

for the wind speed to reduce. Our

second attempt at landing is successful

and, having moved to the emergency

exit seat, I’m happy to be first off the

plane and very relieved to see my wife

when I arrive home!

Wednesday

Eye of the Tiger works today, I

jump out of bed at 6am and head

downstairs to the laptop to start

sending emails about all the things I

have been thinking about in bed for the

last hour.

After several weeks of

development, CoinCorner is about to

go live with a new service that will

allow users to buy Bitcoins with their

credit and debit card. The world seems

to agree with us that this is a big deal

and the story becomes headline news

on CoinDesk, one of the industry’s

largest news websites. CoinCorner is

inundated with new users and we have

over 500 new account requests in 12

hours. The day blurs in to oblivion as I

review a new fund’s offering document

and dream about the mass global

adoption of Bitcoin. I get the sense

CoinCorner has taken a big step

forward.

Thursday

I wake up at 4.30am in order to

catch the first flight to London City

Airport. My first meeting of the day is

at 8.30am in Canary Wharf with an old

colleague at Credit Suisse. I then get

the tube (something I don’t miss at all!)

to Mayfair where I meet with two of my

hedge fund clients before joining a

third client for lunch at Little Social, a

favourite place of mine due to their

wonderful burgers. I see a prospective

client after lunch before I meet with a

venture capital fund that are interested

in investing in CoinCorner. All of the

meetings go well and I head back

across London to City Airport to catch

the return flight home.

I get through the door at 9.30pm

and I’m ready for bed not long after

that. Newsnight has the desired effect

and I fall asleep not long after Evan

Davis starts speaking.

Friday

I spend the morning catching up with

the team at CoinCorner before I take to

my computer to trade a few Bitcoins, the

profit of which will hopefully pay for

dinner this evening.

In the afternoon, I arrive at my

Douglas office and begin reviewing and

signing trading documentation for one

of my hedge fund clients as they are

appointing an additional broker to the

fund. There are eight documents to

review and sign, which takes up most of

the afternoon.

I take a break at 2.30pm to help

present a cheque to Hospice Isle of Man

from funds raised at the recent Crypto

Valley Summit.

I return to my office to catch up with

any hedge fund related news that has

occurred during the week before

meeting a friend for a beer at the

Thirsty Pigeon. We pay for our pints

with Bitcoin before I depart for dinner

with my wife at L’Experience. The

lobster and fries proves to be a great

choice.

Saturday

The day starts with football training for

my two sons at Rushen United. Leo is

keen to get stuck in but Dylan makes it

clear he’s only there for the pancakes

afterwards. I guess at 3 years old he has

plenty of time to develop his skills. We

are back at the house by 11am and pack

up a picnic before heading off to the

Sound and a walk up to Spanish Head.

Sunday

The weather is decent so we take a walk

over Bradda Head before returning to

the Bradda Glen Restaurant for a

Sunday carvery.

Sunday evening I sit down to write

my ‘Week in the life’ article and prepare

for the week ahead. ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIOISSUE 149

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Left:The cheque handoverto Hospice Isle of Manafter the recentCrypto Valley Summitin Douglas.

It was another hat. What she really wanted from him was

the convertible she saw advertised in Manx MotorMart . . .

MMM MotorMartMANX

The Isle of Man’s New and Used Car Magazine

YOUWhat is your business background?

I have been an audiologist for twenty

years – I have always loved my

chosen profession. To have helped

so many people, over the years, has

been immensely rewarding.

What was your very first job?

I was a windsurf and water ski

instructor – on the beach – from the

age of 14 to about 20. Just the

perfect summer job for the school

holidays. Board shorts and flip flops

was my uniform! I have such happy

memories of those care free days.

If you hadn’t chosen your current

career, is there another career path

you would have liked to pursue?

I initially went to University and

qualified as a Charetered surveyor -

although this wasn’t for me.

Thankfully I knew an audiologist

who kindly let me spend a few days

with him. As soon as I saw what

impact he had on his patient’s lives I

was hooked and knew that I had to

get qualified.

Who is your business role model?

I have so many friends who have set

up their own businesses. I am

always intrigued to find out the

thought process in what made them

decide to set up on their own. I find

it fascinating how they went about it

and then built them up.

What’s the best business lesson

you’ve ever learned, and how did

that come about?

Attention to detail, in everything you

do, give people more than they

expect, become the expert in your

field and concentrate on giving your

best to everyone.

What’s the best thing about your job?

Getting to listen and know our

patients. I am blessed to be

entrusted with looking after the long

term hearing health care of so many

patients on our Island. When you

take someone who struggles to hear

their friends and family, especially in

social situations and you then boost

their confidence by bringing them

back into that important

environment – it is priceless!

What is the best business advice youcould offer to anyone?

Commit, believe in yourself, go for it

and go for it some more, do

absolutely everything to be the

ultimate in your field.

DIGITAL AGEDo you own an iPad?

Yes, plus an iPhone or a Guyphone as

my team calls it. Plus an iPad mini

which is a versatile tool. Who would

have thought 5 years ago that you

would be able to take

pictures/video/make a call/read a

book and play Real Racing 3 HD on a

phone.

What are your favourite gadgets?

My new Garmin 920XT Triathlon

watch, iPad mini and Go Pro Hero 3

HD camera

Which websites do you visit most?

The Times, BBC Sport, Twitter and

various work related ones. Plus ones

with the new 2015 road bikes on

them

Do you shop online and if so what

for?

Sometimes, but I prefer the

interaction of buying local.

PERSONALWhere in the world would you most

like to visit and why?

The South Pole after walking there

What is your favourite TV series?

I so rarely watch it although I do

enjoy Bear Grylls programmes and I

was enthralled by James Cracknall

Unstoppable on the Discovery

Channel.

What is the most memorable event

you have recently attended?

I was lucky enough to complete a full

Ironman in Austria in June this year.

I wasn’t the fastest but I won the

happiest finisher! Rather than ask

for money for a charity I set up “Bone

Idol” with the goal of getting as many

people to register with the Anthony

Nolan bone marrow register. I was

delighted to exceed more than

double my original goal. Through

other endurance events I have

signed up over 8,000 life-savers

(people who donate their blood)

through my “Fancy sharing a pint?”

campaigns. Saving a up to three

lives FOR FREE with each donation

is the greatest gift. Blood is designed

to circulate, does yours?

Name 3 things you would like to do

before you die?

Still be best friends with our children

when they become adults; Keep

living with zero regrets; Continue to

always do whatever I am doing with

passion, gusto and a smile on my

face

NAMEGuy Wolstencroft

TITLE AND COMPANYOwner,

Isle of ManHearing Solutions

WHERE DO YOU LIVEON THE ISLAND?

Douglas

HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVEDON THE ISLAND?

I have now been here forover 12 years.

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NEWSN e w s | G o v e r n m e n t | F e a t u r e s | C a r s | D i r e c t o r y | A p p o i n t m e n t s | L i f e s t y l e

QA

Brit Floyd29 Nov

Andre Rieu05 Dec

John Bishop06-07 Dec

Kasabian09 Dec

Michael Buble11-13 Dec

Madness15 Dec

X Facot Live13 Feb

High Flying Birds03 Mar

Lionel Richie10 Mar

Usher21 Mar

Lord of the Dance29 Mar

The Vamps20 Apr

The Who21 Jun

Neil Diamond30 Jun

BELFASTOdyssey Arena

www.odysseyarena.com

LIVERPOOLEcho Arena

www.echoarena.com

MANCHESTERMEN Arena

www.phones4uarena.co.uk

LONDONO2 Arena

www.theO2.co.ukJames Blunt

26 Nov

War of the Worlds28 Nov

Alfie Boe30 Nov

Diversity02 Dec

Status Quo06 Dec

Peter Gabriel07 Dec

Culture Club08 Dec

The Who11 Dec

Andre Rieu12 Dec

Brit Floyd13 Dec

Slipknot22 Jan

Kaiser Chiefs31 Jan

The Script05 Mar

Lionel Richie13 Mar

Enrique Iglesias29 Nov

War of the Worlds30 Nov

Culture Club05 Dec

Alfie Boe06 Dec

Diversity10 Dec

Kasabian12 Dec

The Who13 Dec

Andre Rieu21 Dec

Slipknot20 Jan

Queen21 Jan

You Me At Six13 Feb

Lionel Richie28 Feb

The Script06-07 Mar

High Flying Birds09 Mar

Enrique Iglesias28 Nov

Morrissey29 Nov

Culture Club09 Dec

Basement Jaxx11 Dec

Alfie Boe12 Dec

War of the Worlds13 Dec

Michael Buble15-16 Dec

The Who17-18 Dec

Queen17-18 Jan

Alt-J24 Jan

Kaiser Chiefs13 Feb

Lionel Richie01 Mar

High Flying Birds10 Mar

Paul Simon & Sting15-16 Apr

GIGGUIDE

Noel Gallagher recently announcedthe completion and release date of

the brand new Noel Gallagher’sHigh Flying Birds album, ‘Chasing

Yesterday’ on Sour Mash Records.His band Noel Gallagher’s High

Flying Birds will embark on a run ofarena dates in March to coincide

with the album release. Opening inBelfast at the Odyssey Arena on

March 3rd and then playingNottingham, Glasgow, and

Manchester, culminating with aperformance at London’s O2 Arena.

74R

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ISLE OF MAN

PORTFOLIO ISSUE 149

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