Re-appointment of a Commissioner of the
Jersey Financial Services Commission
1 Issue and Recommendation
1.1 Sir Nigel Wicks’ first term of office as a Commissioner of the Jersey Financial Services Commission will expire on 19 July 2010. Sir Nigel has indicated that he is prepared to serve as a Commissioner for a further term. His fellow Commissioners on the Board support his re-appointment.
1.2 The Jersey Appointments Commission has confirmed that the proposed re-appointment of Sir Nigel Wicks meets the terms and criteria for re-appointments as set out in its Code of Practice for Appointments to Autonomous & Quasi-autonomous Public Bodies & Tribunals.
1.3 Article 3 of the Financial Services Commission (Jersey) Law 1998 stipulates that the States shall appoint Commissioners from persons nominated by the Minister for Economic Development (the “Minister”).
1.4 The Minister is recommended to nominate Sir Nigel Wicks for re-appointment as a Commissioner by the States.
1.5 There are no financial or manpower implications for the States of Jersey.
DIRECTOR, FINANCE INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT
REPORT
The appointment of Commissioners to the Jersey Financial Services Commission (the “Commission”) is dealt with in Articles 3 and 4 of the Financial Services Commission (Jersey) Law 1998 (the “Commission Law”).
Paragraph (1) of Article 3 reads as follows -
“(1) The Commission shall consist of -
(a) a Chairman; and
(b) not less than six other Commissioners.”
Paragraph (2) reads as follows -
“(2) The States shall appoint -
(a) the Commissioners from persons nominated by the Minister; and
(b) a Commissioner nominated by the Minister to be Chairman of the Commission,
and the appointments shall be debated in camera.”
Paragraph (3) states -
“(3) The Commissioners shall include –
(a) persons with experience of the type of financial services supervised by the Commission;
(b) regular users on their own account or on behalf of others, or representatives of those users, of financial services of any kind supervised by the Commission; and
(c) individuals representing the public interest,
and the composition of the Commission shall be such as to secure a proper balance between the interests of persons carrying on the business of financial services, the users of such services and the interests of the public at large.”
Pursuant to paragraph (2) of Article 4, the term of appointment of a Commissioner is prescribed by Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Commission Law, paragraph 1(2) of which reads as follows –
“(2) A Commissioner shall be appointed by instrument in writing for a period not exceeding three years and upon expiry of such period shall be eligible for reappointment.”
By virtue of Article 4(1) all Commissioners are required to take oath before the Royal Court in the form set out in Part I of Schedule 1 to the Law before they begin to act in execution of the Commission Law.
The Minister for Economic Development wishes to nominate the following person for re-appointment by the States:
Sir Nigel Wicks
Sir Nigel Wicks is currently the Chairman of Euroclear, having been appointed on 1 January 2007. Previously, he was non-executive Deputy Chairman of Euroclear plc and Euroclear SA/NV from September 2002.
He previously served as non-executive Chairman of CRESTCo, the settlement system for UK and Irish securities, from 2001 until its merger with Euroclear in 2002. He also served, on appointment by the UK Prime Minister, as Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life between March 2001 and April 2004.
Before joining CRESTCo as non-executive Chairman, Sir Nigel Wicks was a member of the British Civil Service for 32 years. From 1989 to 2000, he was Second Permanent Secretary and Director of International Finance at HM Treasury. Before this, he spent periods as Principal Private Secretary to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Economic Advisor at the British Embassy in Washington DC, UK Executive Director at the World Bank and the IMF, and as Private Secretary to Prime Ministers James Callaghan and Harold Wilson. Sir Nigel Wicks was a member of the EU Committee of ‘Wise Men’ on European Securities Regulation (the Lamfalussy Group) from 2000 to 2001.
Other Commissioners have been appointed until the following dates:
22 October 2010
Clive Jones (Chairman)
29 November 2011
Advocate Debbie Lang
19 January 2012
John Averty (Deputy Chairman)
23 October 2012
John Mills, MBE
Philip Taylor, FCA
28 February 2013
John Harris
20 April 2013
Lord Eatwell of Stratton St Margaret
27 May 2013
Advocate Cyril Whelan
PROPOSITION
THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of the opinion -
in pursuance of Article 3 of the Financial Services Commission (Jersey) Law 1998 to appoint the Sir Nigel Wicks as a Commissioner of the Jersey Financial Services Commission with effect from 20 July 2010 to 19 July 2013.
MINISTER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT