The Annual General Meeting of the Gibraltar Bankers’ Association took place last Wednesday 14th January 2009. Thomas Westh Olsen took over as President from Kerry Blight who steps down after a very successful two years at the helm.

Kerry will stay on the Executive Committee as will Lawrence Podesta, who takes over as Vice President, together with Emma Perez, Treasurer, Franco Cassar Loporto and Linda Cooper. They are joined by two new committee members, Roy Clinton and Christian Bjørløw. Ray Langham retains his role as Secretary.
THOMAS WESTH OLSEN is Managing Director of Credit Suisse (Gibraltar) Limited and a member of the Europe, Middle East and Africa Management team within the Credit Suisse Private Banking Division. After ten years with Jyske Bank Private Banking in Gibraltar, Thomas established a new Private Banking office for Jyske Bank in France, joining Credit Suisse (Gibraltar) Ltd in March 2005. His career started with Nordea Bank, Copenhagen within Commercial Banking from where he progressed to Senior Banking and Wealth Management positions in Scandinavia, Germany and France. A graduate of Copenhagen Business School, Thomas also holds an MBA in Finance from Heriott-Watt University, Edinburgh.
In his report as outgoing President, Kerry spoke of the current economic situation and the trying times facing banks and building societies. He stressed, however, that it was pleasing that those in Gibraltar were probably in a far stronger position than those in other jurisdictions. He also welcomed the good relationship that the Association continues to have with Government, The Finance Centre and the Regulator.

Heritage Group is pleased to announce the launch of its Gibraltar insurance management operation, Heritage Insurance Management (Gibraltar) Ltd. The new operation will provide a wide range of services in Gibraltar, from managing captives and Protected Cell Companies to providing a full management service for direct writing insurance companies.

The directors of Heritage Group consider that Gibraltar is an important strategic expansion,
as it has a well-regulated and established finance centre, with the benefits of EU market access, reciprocal recognition and the ability to passport business across borders. The Gibraltar operation complements Heritage Group’s existing operations in Guernsey, Jersey, London, Bermuda, Malta and Bahrain.
Nick Heys, managing director of Heritage Insurance Management said: “With Gibraltar’s prominent position in the European insurance market, opening an office in Gibraltar was a natural development for Heritage to maintain its position as one of Europe’s leading independent insurance managers.”
Kevin Rye, managing director of Heritage Insurance Management (Gibraltar) Ltd, said: “With an increasing number of enquiries from insurers and reinsurers looking to establish companies in specialised finance centres in the EU, we see the establishment of our Gibraltar office as an important addition to the services that we are able to offer our clients.”

Thursday 6th November saw the first of an annual event organized by the Caleta Hotel for the best performing shipping agent in Gibraltar for 2008. This fun evening was organized as a thank you for business received and loyalty shown throughout the year to the Caleta Hotel from local agents.

The recipient of the first ever award was Inchcape shipping. Archie and Jonathan representing Inchcape can be seen at the front of the group proudly clutching their trophy. Well done on your achievement!
The second achievement of the night belonged to the Caleta, by the very nature of the shipping business it is almost impossible to organize an evening of full attendance and with over 70% of the shipping agents enjoying dinner and drinks in Nunos Restaurant, the success of the evening was an achievement in itself.
Pictured are the men and women of Gibraltar’s shipping industry together with Franco Ostuni, General Manager and Marilyn Richardson Sales & Marketing Manager of the Caleta Hotel, the hosts of the evening.

Ibex is set to expand its horizons during the coming year with the support of leading Lloyd’s syndicate Kiln which is a minority shareholder of Ibex.
The appointment of Ashley Gayton as international motor underwriter at Kiln is also a great boost for Ibex as Ashley’s experience will be invaluable in supporting Ibex’s expansion plans in 2009.
Ashley has joined Kiln to manage the international motor business within the property and special lines division. He brings more than 20 years’ experience of underwriting international motor business, including 15 years at Crowe Insurance Group and most recently as director at the broker Bowoods, where he underwrote through his own motor consortium.
Richard Hill, Managing Director of Ibex Insurance said: “I am very excited by the fact that Ashley has joined Kiln to assist Phil McKeown on International Motor Business. Ashley has a wealth of technical motor knowledge that will help educate us and benefit the business.”
Phil McKeown, a specialist household underwriter at Kiln, has already spent a great deal of time with Ibex in Gibraltar and Ibex will continue to work with both Ashley and Phil over the coming year, using their specialist expertise to develop the current products and peruse new opportunities.

With the recent addition to the IFL retail organisation of the prominent Oasis store in Main Street the time had come to rethink how best to manage the day to day operations of one of the Rock’s leading retail groups which runs the local franchises of BHS, Oasis and Mothercare.

Stephen Palmer is the man in the hot seat and he arrived in Gibraltar just as the new Oasis store was opening at the start of a busy summer. Stephen comes with strong retailing pedigree: five years with the John Lewis Partnership followed by senior positions at Top Shop and Principles make him extremely well-placed to help propel some of the Rock’s leading retail businesses to their next stage of growth. His arrival comes at a time when their UK brethren are seeing first hand the signs of the credit crunch. So his skills and experience will be much in demand.
Stephen also spent 12 months with Top Shop franchises in Dubai so he is quite familiar with the challenges of working outside the United Kingdom. Asked for initial impressions of Gibraltar, Stephen said: “I think it is a great place to be which strikes the right balance between having a stimulating work environment on the one hand and having a cracking lifestyle on the other.”
He has been impressed with Gibraltar’s unique retail offer in Main Street and its surrounding environs and says that much of what he has seen is on a par with retail businesses in the UK. If there is one thing he would like to see more of he said, “I would like to see Main Street have more of a hum about it. The summer nights festival was a brilliant idea but it only lasted a few weeks. That could go on until September. With more visitors here and longer opening hours people spend more. Also service levels in many premises need to improve. Training could help to achieve this and the benefits will take time to come through but it needs to be done if Gibraltar wants to remain an attractive shopping destination for tourists.”
Outside work one of the things Stephen is looking forward to is meeting more locals and also exploring more of Gibraltar, the Campo and beyond. “I have just taken delivery of car so I am carefully trying to find my way around, but hope it will not be too long until I explore further afield. I hear that the Atlantic coast is nice so with the cooler weather I am planning to make a few trips up there.”

Marrache & Co were proud have recently gained accreditation by the Law Society and as such are now authorised to train under Law Society Rules.

The first trainees to join Marrache & Co are Tamar Abudarham, Jonathan Sanjuan and Israel Bitton.
Tamar aged 24 a local Gibraltarian girl who studied at Queen Mary University in the East end of London, then continued with her Legal Practice Course in BPP Law School in the city of London. Tamar then joined our London practice and did eight months of her training there and was transferred back to Gibraltar to complete her training.
Jonathan aged 23, a local Gibraltarian who studied at Kent University in Canterbury, then continued with the Legal Practice Course, at the College of Law in Guildford.
Israel aged 25, a locally educated young man who has spent over 19 years in Gibraltar, educated at Manchester Metropolitan University, then continued with his Legal Practice Course at the College of Law, Bloomsbury, London. Israel then joined us here in Gibraltar to commence his training contract.