With mainstream national media continuing to show considerable interest in offshore finance centres, in this issue of our Crystal Clear newsletter we take a look at some of the issues being discussed in that space - particularly how IFCs might respond to criticism aimed their way.

International financial and legal trade media, meanwhile, have a number of features planned for early 2013 relevant to offshore centres. The Lawyer, Legal Week and Legal Business all plan offshore features for February, whilst Captive Review has a report on Guernsey scheduled for the same month.

It is also a time of expansion for Crystal PR and I am delighted to welcome two new recruits to the team - Emma Riley Marett, who takes a look at recent developments pertinent to PR professionals in this issue, and Anna Hamon, who rounds up recent developments around the jurisdictions.

I hope this newsletter continues to be a useful resource, and from the whole - much expanded! - team at Crystal, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and an enjoyable New Year.

Mike Sunier

Crystal PR is pleased to welcome two new PR Executives to its team.

Emma Riley Marett (pictured left) is an honours graduate in history from Exeter University, and has experience working as part of an internship for a boutique PR agency in London before deciding to return to Jersey recently.

Anna Hamon (right) has recently returned to Jersey having worked as a Research Manager at a boutique research agency in London for the past three years. Prior to that she worked in the events industry co-ordinating high profile events at Tate Gallery and has a degree in Hispanic Studies from the University of Birmingham.

Both Emma and Anna are looking forward to supporting Crystal's growing and increasingly diverse client base in the Channel Islands and further afield.

The second annual IFC Forum Conference was held in London in November, entitled 'IFCs: playing a part in the global recovery', and I was fortunate to be one of the hundred or so people to attend.

I was particularly keen to see how the agenda had changed since last year's Conference - one of my comments after that event was that 'the argument for IFCs to tackle the key issues together in a credible, positive and collaborative way is getting stronger’.

Despite the current persistent media coverage of IFCs, issues of tax avoidance, transparency and regulation, the issues discussed this year seemed remarkably similar to last  And, as I noted last year, it was still mainly a case of preaching to the converted.

There were some interesting points made – that IFCs need to educate the next generation by going into colleges and universities (Philip Booth) and that automatic information exchange is seeing growing interest (see current debate on ‘UK FATCA’). The question was also asked as to whether there is any point in IFCs complying with all regulation if they never get any credit for it.

Read more of Adam's comments on this year's IFC Forum Conference...

AR

Emma Riley Marett takes a look at the CIPR's latest advice for PR professionals using Wikipedia and the launch of a new PR register...

The professional body for public relations practitioners in the UK, the CIPR, has announced the launch of a ‘Public Relations Register’.

The register of its 9,000 members is available now for CIPR members to review and will be made publicly searchable as from January on the CIPR website.

The CIPR hopes the register will be a helpful resource for clients, employers, other professions and the public, and will highlight the CIPR Code of Conduct.

Meanwhile, the CIPR has re-emphasised the need for PR professionals to keep up to date with best practice surrounding how to engage with Wikipedia.

Its Social Media Panel recently criticised Wonga.com for allegedly editing its own Wikipedia entry. An article in the Guardian had previously claimed the short term money lending website had edited its page on Wikipedia - the sixth most visited website in the world.

It was suggested that Wonga.com deleted criticism of the company from its Wikipedia page, including a reference to a Harvard Business Review website describing Wonga as "the worst business model in the world".

The CIPR Social Media Panel collaborated with Wikimedia UK earlier in the year to help develop a set of guidelines for PR professionals on the use of Wikipedia. The key recommendation was that Wikipedia pages should not be directly edited by companies, unless to change facts, but could suggest amendments to users.

ERM

There are times when a public response to criticism levelled in the media is the best solution and other times when ignoring it can be the best option, rather than helping to fuel a debate in public.

But when a representative from the House of Lords stands up and claims that Jersey is ‘one of the most secretive jurisdictions in the world’ and that claim is then published on the front page of the local newspaper, it should not go unchallenged.

A response needs to come from the Government ministers that represents Jersey and it should be directed at the high profile political figure making the claim – in this case Baroness Williams.

Read more about this issue here.

MS