Written by Peter Harrison

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January 11, 2017

Jersey Finance has appointed Cormac Sheedy as a Business Development Director for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), based in Dubai, as it seeks to further build its profile in the Gulf region.

Cormac will be responsible for overseeing the advancement of Jersey Finance’s business activity and helping to further enhance Jersey’s reputation as a major international finance centre in the key Gulf region. He will work alongside fellow Business Development Director in the GCC, Richard Nunn, to deliver enhanced coverage between them of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the UAE markets.

Jersey Finance CEO Geoff Cook said: “The GCC remains a key market for Jersey, with recent independent research showing that Jersey is custodian to some £100bn of assets emanating from the region. With that in mind, Cormac’s appointment will be pivotal in helping us continue to forge deeper links across the region.

“Over the past 12 months as well as seeing strong ongoing demand for traditional family wealth, estate and succession planning work from the region, we have also witnessed a growing appetite to draw on Jersey’s alternative fund and real estate expertise. It is Jersey’s expertise, experience and stability that is becoming more attractive to the increasingly sophisticated Middle East market.”

Cormac, who has over 25 years’ experience in financial services, has lived and worked in the UAE for the past 13 years and has held senior posts at Invesco Asset Management and Fidelity International, and was most recently Senior Executive Officer at Royal Bank of Canada where he had responsibility for Sovereign Wealth Funds. Prior to this he worked for five years for Bank of Ireland Asset management, based in Jersey.

Cormac’s appointment comes following a period of ramped-up activity for Jersey Finance in the Middle East region, where it has had a permanent presence through an established regional office in the UAE since 2011.

Towards the end of 2016, Richard Nunn spoke at the STEP Arabia Conference on trends in cross-border investment and wealth planning, and hosted two events in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as part of the Saudi government’s ‘Vision 2030’ economic growth initiative. Jersey Finance also co-sponsored and exhibited at the latest Super Return Middle East in Dubai, attended by more than 400 investment funds professionals from around the world and hosted two roadshows in Doha and Dubai earlier in the year.

Further reinforcing its reputation in the Middle East, Jersey was also named ‘Best International Finance Centre’ at the Wealthbriefing Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Region Awards 2016.