Agility of Jersey Funds Regime in the Spotlight

In this article, Elliot Refson, our Head of Funds, reflects on our recent Funds Focus event in London and highlights the key themes discussed.

Many of the conversations we’ve had with funds lawyers, tax advisers and managers over the course of 2025 have revolved around how rapidly the alternatives space is evolving.

From the tokenisation of real-world assets and the growing stablecoin market, to the diversification of investor bases into the private markets, and the move away from traditional investment structures towards corporate vehicles and special purpose vehicles (SPVs).

Our well-attended Funds Focus event in London earlier this month provided a perfect opportunity to not only reflect on those changes, but also to reaffirm why Jersey remains perfectly placed to respond to those significant market shifts.
As speakers highlighted, a degree of myth busting is needed in these areas. Sometimes – and we know this from our own market analysis – there are still assumptions made in the market about Jersey’s funds proposition and what it can and can’t do.

But the reality is that Jersey can actually evidence a remarkably agile funds environment. Jersey is, for example, about more than just boutique funds. In fact, it offers a full suite of regulatory options to cater to a broad range of investor strategies, all the way up to big-ticket funds. It can provide very good, cost-effective and rapid access to European investors. Investor onboarding through Jersey is very straightforward. Its regime is flexible and robust, without being overly complicated. And it is certainly not ‘just the same’ as other cross-border specialist fund centres. It is distinctive and progressive.

Evidence

Of course, it’s very easy to say all this – but there is evidence of this playing out in practice. Currently, Jersey administers and manages in excess of US$725 billion in fund assets, a figure that has grown some 5% in the last 12 months alone – that’s very competitive compared to other centres. Moreover, that figure has more than doubled over the past decade. And around 90% of that value is in the alternative assets space.

It’s reflected – and this is important – at a structuring level too, with Jersey housing some 1,300 regulated and private funds.
And in terms of accessing European investors, there are currently 240 alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) marketing almost 450 funds into the European Economic Area (EEA) investor zone through Jersey, using private placement regimes.

And this is all backed up by an impressive, dedicated workforce of more than 9,000 professionals in around 650 businesses on the ground in Jersey, supporting global alternatives strategies. They include full-substance managers, as well as tax advisers, lawyers, auditors, administrators, promoters, investment houses and other ancillary providers serving the cross-border funds space.

These are the hallmarks of a centre that is truly progressive, dynamic and fully engaged in supporting smart managers with their global objectives. And doing it successfully.

Keep moving

But of course, the environment keeps moving, and as a jurisdiction we recognise the need to move with it, if Jersey is to continue to provide future-proof client advice and maintain a competitive edge in cross-border fund structuring.

As we look forward, the focus for managers when it comes to placing trust in their jurisdictional partner in the coming years will revolve around a few key ingredients: namely, speed, cost-effectiveness, tax neutrality, service, and regulatory choice. We believe Jersey can respond to all of those qualities so that it not only remains relevant, but can play a critical role in helping managers to achieve their goals.

Speakers at Funds Focus pointed, for example, to the ongoing success of the Jersey Private Fund (JPF), and rightly so – it has become the go-to structure for private capital with 1,487 JPFs authorised since the product’s launch in 2017. It offers rapid approval – in as little as 24 hours – and has this year been subject to a number of enhancements to make it even more streamlined and accessible. Going forward, we see growing appeal in the JPF amongst emerging and mid-market managers.

But Jersey’s funds ecosystem extends beyond private funds. Its unregulated product and Expert Funds Regime are also well established, and ensure that Jersey is able to meet a broad range of needs, from open and closed funds; from light-touch to highly regulated solutions; for a broad range of expert, institutional or professional investors; for funds that are geared up for targeting European or global investors seamlessly.

And even more than that, Jersey’s corporate structuring capabilities and experience, backed up by its tried and tested Company Law, is adding further strength as the propensity for managers to structure through SPVs and co-investment vehicles shows no signs of slowing down, and as tokenisation – which is treated under the securitisation regime in Jersey – moves increasingly centre stage.

Combined, this all makes for a comprehensive and agile ecosystem that can be tailored and adjusted to suit manager needs, whether based in the US, UK or elsewhere, across the asset class spectrum, complementing and being complemented by structures in other locations too, where it makes sense to have a Jersey entity – as carry entities or parallel structures, for example.

And we are not stopping there – this year, our industry, together with the Government of Jersey and the JFSC, is focused on enhancing our competitiveness even further; differentiating our proposition whilst maintaining the core fundamentals that have helped shape Jersey into the successful cross-border funds hub it is today.

We are committed, for instance, to being advanced in our thinking around tokenisation and digital assets, to make things simpler and clearer to market participants. The Jersey Financial Services Commission was, for example, one of the first financial regulators globally to publish formal guidance on the tokenisation of real-world assets, last year.

We are looking at ways to make it easier and quicker to onboard investors, without compromising the integrity and probity that Jersey is known for.

We continue to streamline our own regulatory environment to ensure we can meet the needs of managers who are looking for speed to market and easy investor access.

And we are focussed on supporting the specific needs of emerging and mid-market managers, where we see real growth in an environment where capital deployment and fundraising remains challenging.

There’s no doubt that the global funds industry is currently in a period of significant change – and that change is prompting managers to review and consider their options. The agility of Jersey’s funds ecosystem means that it is well placed to respond robustly to those calls.