The promotional agency for Jersey’s financial industry has praised this week’s signing of a tax information agreement between the island and Switzerland, coming shortly after UK prime minister David Cameron stated that neither Jersey nor neighbouring Guernsey deserved the title of tax haven.

The promotional agency for Jersey’s financial industry has praised this week’s signing of a tax information agreement between the island and Switzerland, coming shortly after UK prime minister David Cameron stated that neither Jersey nor neighbouring Guernsey deserved the title of tax haven.

The TIEA was signed on 16 September at the Swiss Embassy in London by Jersey’s Chief Minister Senator Ian Gorst and the Ambassador of Switzerland in London HE Dominik Furgler for the Swiss Federal Council. This is Jersey’s 32^nd TIEA which meets the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s tax standards on transparency and information exchange; it is also the 25^th such agreement Jersey has signed with an OECD country.

“This latest agreement with Switzerland enhances our relationship with another major IFC, with whom Jersey already has a good and strong business relationship, particularly in the areas of wealth management and banking,” Geoff Cook, chief executive of [tag|Jersey Finance|]Jersey Finance[/tag], said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the French government sought to step up its fight against tax evasion by placing Jersey, the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda on an official blacklist of uncooperative tax havens. Of that decision, Cook recently said: "The French administration's decision is surprising and doesn't appear to take into account at all the significant action Jersey has taken this year in support of international moves on transparency and international cooperation."