In case you weren’t able to join us at the 2025 Guernsey Funds Forum, we’ve recapped some of the key discussion points during a stimulating and informative session exploring the future direction of the funds industry, under the central theme of “Venture to the Future”.
The sell-out Guernsey Funds Forum 2025 saw a record number of attendees convene to discuss the future of funds, including how private equity and venture capital firms are leveraging digital tools and technologies, and the trend towards fund management specialisation. The event came hot on the heels of the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC)’s announcement of changes to the Private Investment Fund (PIF) regime to make it a more streamlined, innovative and flexible fund structure for a wide spectrum of private capital investment strategies. The changes include a removal of the upper limit of the number of investors that can enter the fund, along with a withdrawal of the requirement to conduct an audit.
The flagship event was opened by special guest Alderman Alistair King, the 696th Lord Mayor of London – a role that dates back to 1189 – who took to the stage to set the scene of Guernsey’s long-running history as a secure and stable conduit for international capital.
“The UK receives annual returns of about £7 billion from structures that are based in Guernsey, which is a very significant amount of money. And it's wonderful to see that that is a figure that has been growing 14% year on year over the course of the last few years,” he said.
Next up was Steven Hillion, Head of Data at Astronomer, the New York-based company behind open-source data orchestration platform Apache Airflow. A Guernseyman himself, Hillion provided an intriguing overview of the delicate balance between stability and reliability, and cutting-edge innovation, from the prevalence of AI and machine learning, to the philosophical shift in the investment community with regards to the perception of generative AI.
Hillion said: “GenAI is not overhyped – It's truly magic in a way that I don't think I've ever experienced in the technology world before. This time last year, there were two or three customers who were doing AI in earnest on the platform. So now we're talking dozens. You cannot not invest in this; this is fundamental. The entire technical world is changing. People are coding differently, people are doing business differently. Just be wary that we're in the early stages, and the Google of the AI world has yet to manifest. So dive in, but do it with your eyes wide open.”
Investing in the future: how technology is driving VC returns
The first of two panels focused on how technology is driving venture capital returns, and the role that Guernsey plays as a hub for global innovation.
Transformative powers of smart technologies
Archie Burgess, Investment Director at Cibus Capital, talked about improving the outdated food chain and using technology to address the lack of productivity and resource inefficiency, with the example of smart sprays in eco-robotics to identify and ensure only weeds were sprayed with chemicals. “This reduces chemical use by about 95%, it’s reducing labour because you don't have to have manual weeding,” he said. “It's increasing the yield of the crop because you're not spraying the crop anymore, all at the same time as increasing biodiversity. So it's a win-win for everybody.”
On the progress of AI, David Kippen, Managing Director at Cordiant Capital, said: “We ain’t seen nothing yet. We're at an inflection point where all the data growth rates that we saw in the last several years are now going to go up by big multiples in the next several years. The real big problem is actually energy, and so efficiency in data centres is actually likely to be the next wave of technology innovation to bring the power coming in to the amount of power that goes to the server down to 1:1.”
Panellists also discussed the regulatory pressures in getting technologies to market. The Guernsey Green Fund designation was noted as being particularly valuable in its practicality and alignment to the EU taxonomy without being too overbearing – “an externally validated designation that has really helped us differentiate and compared to other funds”, added Archie.
Mark Harrison, Chief Financial Officer at Sprints, talked about the description of Guernsey as “a small giant”, and its appropriateness as fitting “nicely with the Guernsey mentality of a small island with a small population at the centre of innovation. The ‘everyone knows everyone’ mentality in Guernsey is a real attraction because it accelerates processes. It helps to speed up references and build trust in an infrastructure that's been built over decades of talent.”
Woody Stileman, Managing Director at RTW Investments, discussed the role of specialist fund managers when it comes to delivering on the potential of breakthrough technology. “When the tide is rising, anyone can make a bit of money, including generalist investors, but when the tide’s going out or when capital is scarce, that's really when you need the specialist. For example, in biotech you need the understanding of the science, of the drug, and of the probabilities of the drug developing through clinical trials. The value of specialism is key.”
Guernsey's edge: global regulation, liquidity and fund innovation
The second panel discussed Guernsey’s edge for launching and domiciling fund structures, set against the backdrop of the global regulatory environment.
Aranpreet Randhawa, a Partner at Fried Frank, set the context by describing the slower fundraising environment facing many private markets investors today. “When choosing where to domicile funds, you have to be cognisant of where the market is at the moment – GPs can no longer raise funds as quickly as they used to. Today, it's a case of balancing what's going to cause the least amount of friction with investors, whilst also making sure that from an operational perspective, you can do everything you need to do with the regulator, get your funds set up and still operate it for the forseeable future without too much headache. Guernsey is a jurisdiction that not only European, but also global investors, are very familiar with – a very well developed asset management industry and supporting ecosystem, so interactions with the regulator are much smoother.”
When comparing Guernsey’s regulatory landscape with that of other jurisdictions, panellists agreed on the GFSC’s strengths in being nimble and collaborative.
Jerry Paul, Finance & Operations at Queen's Park Equity, said: “Nimble and collaborative would be the two words I'd use in terms of driving product innovation. Guernsey’s PIF regime is a strong example of industry collaboration on the island. It came in a decade ago and the latest updates come as a result of industry collaboration, allowing us to boost the number of investors in our funds without having to switch regime. There is a genuine collaboration between the GFSC and the professional practitioners on the island that allow registrations to happen extremely quickly. In Guernsey, you can measure things in days – in others, it’s more like weeks and months.”
Stephanie Biggs, Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, talked about a “tug of war” at play in the regulatory space: “We're a little bit worried that something might go wrong and we want to keep an eye on things, plus we've got all this pressure from growth and we need to take brakes off. We need to deregulate and get everything going.” Biggs went on to highlight the importance of choosing a jurisdiction that prioritises flexibility and immediacy, so that ambition does not get scaled back through the consultation process.
The panel moved onto liquidity woes in private equity, asking to what extent the secondaries market is a solution?
Ed Hammond, Head of Tax & GP Operations at Coller Capital, said: “The secondaries space is experiencing notable growth in volume and complexity. It’s a changing world, with both the rate of growth and complexity increasing.”
The panel concluded with data from a recent Frontier Economics report that found £57 billion in FDI flows were channelled into the UK through Guernsey, and if it had not flowed through Guernsey, around £13 billion of that would not have been netted into the UK economy. They agreed on the importance of international financial centres such as Guernsey in maintaining strong capital flows into the UK.
“Despite economic and political uncertainty, Guernsey remains a tried and tested domicile of choice,” Rupert Pleasant, Chief Executive at Guernsey Finance summarised. “We move through 2025 confident that Guernsey’s long track record and expertise in all aspects of funds management cements our position in the global financial services landscape.”
