Jersey’s Trust Law Remains Fit-for-Purpose as Bermuda Codifies ESG

As set out in our recent paper, Why ESG is Just Part of a Trustee’s Duties, and the accompanying video, ESG and Trustees’ Duties, the Trusts (Jersey) Law 1984 provides trustees with broad powers which enable them to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investment and governance decisions, while acting in the interests of the beneficiaries and in accordance with the terms of the trust.

The jurisdiction of Bermuda has recently announced an update to its trust law to explicitly embed ESG considerations for trustees. In contrast, Jersey’s trust legislation and case law is already in a place to provide flexibility to achieve these aims, without the need for amendment. This flexibility provides long-term stability to allow trustees to adapt to the changing global and investment environment. The Trusts (Jersey) Law 1984 is regularly reviewed to ensure that it is fit for purpose and remains the leading offshore trust legislation while retaining this stability.

Jersey regularly engages with industry stakeholders as part of these reviews. The next proposed amendments to the Trusts (Jersey) Law, 1984, have recently been lodged for debate by the States Assembly, demonstrating the results of this review process. We will be issuing more details of these in due course. They relate to the resignation of trustees, liens, termination of trusts and some tidying amendments. For the reasons set out above, there are no proposed amendments relating to ESG and investment powers.

We encourage trustees, advisers and families considering ESG-aware investment approaches to read our paper and view our ESG and Trustees’ Duties video for more information on this area and to take appropriate advice.