The Guernsey Financial Services Commission has marked the introduction of the Electronic Agents Ordinance 2019 by informing a London audience that it intends to smile on financial firms that rely on electronic 'customer due diligence' or CDD. It expects the financial sector's money-laundering reporting officers to find this reassuring.

Emma Bailey, the GFSC's director of authorisations and innovation, told the huddled masses that her outfit was "happy to work with all stakeholders to look to develop an approach that creates greater certainty for providers deploying electronic AML. The introduction of a revised AML handbook provides a welcome opportunity for us to make clear our commitment to ex ante discussions over the deployment of technology in the AML process.”

The GFSC published a new anti-money laundering rulebook or 'handbook' late last year.

Dr Andy Sloan of Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency that was hosting the event, said: “Certainty, clarity and confidence of the regulatory approach are key for the application of technology and key to its widespread adoption. It is great to see, among other things, the GFSC helping to create these conditions to support the widespread adoption of technology-based AML solutions in Guernsey. Our strategy is to support a market-based approach to the application of technology in the AML arena. We are fortunate to be home to some of the market’s leaders in the provision of technology-based AML services to funds and fiduciary sectors."

He added that a Guernsey company called ID register (theidregister.com, a universal 'investor onboarding' platform, owned by IPES) provided market-based electronic CDD services and that Solidum Re had been the first company to list notes digitised on a blockchain on a regulated exchange - namely the International Stock Exchange, formerly the Channel Islands Stock Exchange. Luminaries from the island also praised their own jurisdiction for having produced the Electronic Transactions (Electronic Agents) (Guernsey) 2019 Ordinance earlier this month, which is designed to promote the use of artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technology.

Guernsey has digital ambitions. The laws of most jurisdictions do not yet explicitly mention electronic agents, i.e. computer programmes that perform specified actions without review or action from a human.