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People you know People you trust

3

page 33 · EY returns to Gibraltar

page 34 · Success for Deloitte Gibraltar

page 36 · TSN welcomes Owen Smith

· Two Further Senior Executives to develop the Financial Services Sector

· Insight Recruitment Solutions now in Gibraltar

page 37 · New CEO for Gibraltar FSC

page 39 · More fire power for Chesterton’s Gibraltar office

News featurespage 6 · New President for the Chamber

page 8 · The Interview Albert Isola

page 12 · ‘Passage to Asia’ 2nd World Music Festival

page 14 · Investing in a dynamic environment

page 16 · The Gibunco Gibraltar International Literary Festival

page 17 · Remote e-gaming update

page 18 · Airline Update

page 21 · RGYC Regatta 2013

chamber Newspage 22 · Chamber News

people oN the move

busiNess briefspage 25 · NatWest launches iPhone banking services in Gibraltar

page 26 · Gibtelecom invests in home grown talent

· Deloitte Gibraltar trainee gets top UK award

page 28 · Royal Marines Charity Fundraiser · MH Bland appoints new Board Directors

page 30 · Solar revolution has begun

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foreworDpage 4 · A level playing field

4

Border Issues

The Chamber has observed over the last few months that, as a result of the ‘enhanced’ border controls and the consequent impact on the number of visitors to Gibraltar, Spanish measures have had and continue to have a negative impact on some local business, more specifically on the retail and wholesale sectors. The Chamber further notes that, as could be expected, the catering, supermarket and leisure sectors have seen a significant improvement in demand, likely owing to the greater number of locals choosing to stay in Gibraltar, availing themselves of the local entertainment options.

In addition, the Chamber has observed the increasing demand in rental properties in Gibraltar, suggesting the return to or establishment on the Rock of many who may have hitherto been spending a significant proportion of their time in Spain.

Whilst the negative impact of the current situation seems to be neutralised somewhat by the positive developments in the sectors alluded to, in addition to the heightened sense of ‘buying local,’ whether by choice or by need, the Chamber is conscious of the potential long-term impact on local business of protracted difficulties in this community’s relationship with Spain. It is the Chamber’s view that short to medium-term improvements in demand in certain sectors of our business community, must neither distract the business community nor detract from the value of supporting all and any local initiatives designed to bring about normalisation in the context of cross-border relations as soon as possible.

A different picture

Conversely, the Chamber understands that, as was expected, these measures have had a potentially far greater impact on business on the Spanish side of the border than they have done locally. The combined effect of practical disincentive of the protracted queues and detailed inspection of all documentation on the one hand, allied to the less tangible but no less important concerns about the perceived animosity towards Gibraltarians on the other, will have played a significant role in decreasing Gibraltarian demand for goods and services in Spain. Understanding the impact of this change in local attitudes is, however, an exercise in speculation.

Gibraltar contribution to the Campo

It will be recalled that in 2009, in an attempt to better understand the extent of Gibraltar’s impact on economic activity in the Campo area, the Chamber commissioned an independent study to that effect. The study found, amongst other things, that:

• Gibraltar accounted for 1 out of every 6 jobs in the region of the Campo de Gibraltar;

• Gibraltar’s GDP accounted for just over one eighth of the entire Campo economy in 2007;

• Gibraltar businesses bought £174m (€200m) of goods and services from Spain in 2007;

• Frontier workers earned £126m (€145m) from their jobs in Gibraltar, most of which was spent Spain.

These findings were based on data gathered in 2007 and there is little doubt that these figures will almost certainly have increased.

foreworD

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The Chamber has, for some time now, considered the need for updating the study’s findings in the context of both the international economic crisis, its effect on the Spanish economy, the growing unemployment and the very particular and acute crisis underway in La Linea and the Campo area. In July of this year the study was given the green light and we now keenly await it’s completion. We look forward to publishing a report during Spring 2014.

Media coverage of summer dispute

Apart from the hardship which the queues imposed on communities on both sides of the border, the other main casualty of the summer tensions was Spain’s media. Several of Spain’s media outlets were manipulated in a most vulgar and reprehensible manner by the Spanish government. Some Spanish “newspapers” appeared to be taking dictation directly from Spain’s Foreign Ministry. The level of co-ordination for wave after wave of vitriol against Gibraltar and its people heaped upon the Spanish reader, TV viewer and radio listener was in stark contrast to the more balanced coverage offered by the international media. A fair chunk of Spain’s Fourth Estate has shown itself to be just an annexe of the Partido Popular. This is utterly shameful in a democracy.

By contrast, given the resources available to them, some of the local coverage of the dispute by the Chronicle and GBC was notable: uncovering the comments made 30 years ago by King Juan Carlos that recovery of Gibraltar would not be in Spain’s best interests. A pity this article never received wider circulation. The two episode

documentary of the Invisible Frontier was indicative that with some vision, GBC is capable of putting some fascinating and insightful programming together. Programmes like this should remain available on GBC’s website as an educational and information resource. Both news organisations should be congratulated for such coverage. Give the people more of it. The role of both these news organisations in keeping the local community informed (and entertained) has never been more important.

A level playing field

The Chamber has continued to lobby hard on issues which affect its members. Since being elected Chamber President, one of Christian Hernandez’s drumbeats has been to ensure a level playing field is maintained for local businesses. It was therefore re-assuring to hear the Chief Minister stating that he intends to deal with unregistered traders operating in Gibraltar. The President has made it a priority to ensure open and fluid dialogue between the Chamber and the government. He has engaged with the Chief Minister fully and directly about the measures announced in the June budget to ensure that our members’ voices are heard.

The Chamber has recently announced that it will be polling the membership for their views on the dealings they have with various parts of the civil service. We urge all members to take a few minutes to complete this online survey. We want to know how we can encourage people in the public sector to improve service levels where necessary and also recognise what they do well.

foreworD

Six months into his first term as President of the Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce, local barrister Christian Hernandez is on bullish form. Hernandez took over last May from Nicholas Russo, who stepped down after seven years at

the helm.

The 41-year old lawyer, a married father of one with another child on the way, wants to build on the foundations laid by his predecessor while bringing fresh impetus to the Chamber’s activities.Hernandez wants to revitalise the Chamber and strengthen links with its members. He wants to see a “younger, more youthful” Chamber. “I want to engage members more closely and develop the personal contact that’s typical of Gibraltar,” he says. “I’m very llanito in that context.”

Hernandez’s election as President coincided with new voices on the board of directors too, ensuring that all the key sectors of the economy are properly represented at top level. “It’s important to have new blood because otherwise we can become stale,” Hernandez says. “We need

new ideas or we can lose perspective. It happens to all of us.”For all his intention to inject new vigour into the Chamber, Hernandez is quick to praise the work of its board of directors, on which he has served for the past decade. That work, he says, is rarely recognised publicly. “Most of the work that we do is behind the scenes and it’s a thankless task,” he says. “No one sees or acknowledges it.”

With that partly in mind, Hernandez wants to see greater involvement from the Chamber’s rank and file in the day to day work. He believes in teamwork and will encourage the creation of sub-committees to examine in close detail the issues of the day and then report back to the board before decisions are taken.

When it comes to key issues and challenges for the business community looking ahead, there are a few surprises on the agenda. Top of the list is the constant need to ensure a level playing field for Gibraltar businesses, “both internally and externally.” Hernandez reflects, for example, on how companies that use illegal, unregistered labour have an unfair advantage over those that do not, to the

New President for the Chamber

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detriment of both the employees and the wider community. He says the Chamber will work with the Gibraltar Government and the trades unions to clamp down on unregistered labour.There are other issues that resurface regularly, including competition from unlicensed businesses and reducing the high costs that businesses face in Gibraltar. Hernandez believes the Chamber should make its voice heard loud and clear in the face of important issues that impact on the business community and Gibraltar. In recent weeks, for example, the Chamber took on a leading role in lobbying Barclays Bank and UK MPs following news that the bank was reviewing its operations in Gibraltar and could scale them back. Hernandez did not lead on that issue for professional reasons, but he is clearly proud of the way the Chamber worked to ensure the important role played by Barclays in Gibraltar was clearly understood by top-level decision-makers and policy influencers in the UK.

“It’s the feisty Chamber that I want to see, fighting passionately when the situation warrants it,” he says. But likewise, he is wary of being drawn into a public discussion on thorny issues such as the current dispute with Spain and the impact of Spanish border controls on business. While he wants to oversee a “staunchly independent” Chamber, he does not believe it is in his remit to comment publicly on foreign affairs that are properly the reserve of Gibraltar’s elected representatives.

He is nevertheless quick to point that where issues impact on business and the Chamber feels it has an important view that must be heard, it will not hesitate to make those views known. He will raise matters privately in the wider interests of “Gibraltar Plc”. Only when private representations are ignored will the Chamber come out publicly he says. “It’s a balancing exercise and that’s the tightrope I have to walk,” he says.

One of the first things he did after he was elected was to request a series of face-to-face meetings with Gibraltar Government ministers to touch base on key issues of the day. Hernandez, a partner in local law firm Isolas, was called to the Bar in 1995 and specialises in corporate and financial work. He is also one of Gibraltar’s leading maritime lawyers and enjoys a good reputation internationally as a safe pair of hands in admiralty matters. He says his legal background will stand him in good stead in his work for the Chamber. “Lawyers are problem solvers and that’s what I do,” he says. “I’m used to dealing with large volumes of work and very

tight deadlines.”

His work gives him insight into the challenges facing the big companies doing business internationally from and through Gibraltar, but he has his finger on the local pulse too. Hernandez comes from a family of Gibraltar traders. His father, Paco, started out 60 years ago as the sales representative for a local wholesaler before setting up Tiger Shoes, the first in a string of shops he later went on to open, including household names from Gibraltar’s recent history such as Pisa Shoes,  Pisa Boutique and Napoleon.

Hernandez´s two older brothers, Alland and Frank, followed in their father’s footsteps and went into business too. The family still has 4 shops on Main Street, “which means I´m very much aware of what local businesses need and the problems that they face.” The family business suffered mixed fortunes over the years, particularly during the hard years of the closed-border era, but Hernandez speaks with pride of how his father persevered and, in doing so, taught him a valuable lesson. “He re-invented himself a few times and showed me that through sheer hard work and determination, you can overcome anything,” the Chamber President says.

Lawyers are

problem solvers and

that’s what I do

7

The Interview

Albert IsolaB2B Congratulations from B2B on your election victory and on your appointment as a Minister. You have taken on 2 portfolios, critical portfolios in terms of the Gibraltar economy – e-Gaming and Financial Services. What do you think are your first priorities in terms of specifically those particular 2 portfolios?

Albert I am very fortunate to have walked into a portfolio that has been cared for by Gilbert Licudi QC since December 2011 and much progress had already been made during that time. Before I tackle anything within the Ministry I felt it important to understand what the issues, the background, the challenges we face are, and what the opportunities there are too. To do this I have been meeting with each of the providers in financial services to understand from them at first hand what issues they have, what concerns they have and what improvements and product changes they would like to see made, then working together coming up with a comprehensive review of our market and a marketing strategy to reposition Gibraltar focusing primarily on our reputation for quality, which on a more and more frequent basis has become a key component of what people are looking for when selecting a jurisdiction of choice.

B2BSo, you are almost saying that you are looking at trying to look at it by carrying out a “SWOT” analysis of the Gibraltar offering?

Albert Yes, because at the same time as I am doing that I am learning from all the different sectors as to what their particular needs are. The Insurance Sector and the Funds Sector have different concerns and different opportunities and challenges. So it is a question of understanding all of these different areas and then, with them and by listening to them having a common goal as to where we all want to get to. I am a great believer in developing the sector and marketing together. I see the Government and the Regulator as in effect facilitating the platform for the private sector to innovate, create business and create opportunities for themselves and it is therefore essential that in anything that we do, we do it together in real partnership. That’s fundamental in the way I see things moving forward in the finance centre.

B2BWith e gaming we reported previously in B2B that there have been a lot of issues with the UK Government and with the point of consumption tax. Where are we in relation to that particular issue?

Albert That is very much ongoing. It is being very much driven by the gaming association, the GBGA and we are working extremely hard politically at all levels to support their initiatives. They are taking their advice and keeping Government briefed and informed at each stage of the process and we are very much involved with them in seeing what we can do to at the end of the day to defend and protect our sector. It is a sector that is important to Gibraltar. Gibraltar enjoys a tremendous reputation worldwide in Gaming and we need to ensure that we move to secure and protect not just that reputation but also the opportunities it brings to Gibraltar as well. The gaming sector is not just by itself important to Gib but all the peripheral activities that have now been created around it which are completely new, dynamic and exciting for Gibraltar and the people to get more involved in, in terms of employment opportunities, investment opportunities; so I am very positive about the gaming sector. I think it has an awful lot more to offer us.

The Hon.

8

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B2B Do we have the potential to increase the number of gaming licences or are we at saturation point?

Albert I don’t think it is a question of numbers, I think it is a question of opportunity and if there is a particularly good opportunity that comes our way with a particularly good brand or a particularly innovative product then of course we should look at it. For me it is not a question of we have hit 20 licences and therefore no more should come in. We are in a very privileged position of being able to pick and choose who we want. I think that is far more important than the numbers game. Quality and reputation above all have to be safeguarded. That is paramount.

B2B The Finance Centre has complied with a lot of EU Directives, which is fantastic for the reputation of our Finance sector, what’s on the horizon in terms of potential new implementations that we might have to put into law?

Albert We have got to Stage 1 of our EU obligations, by Stage 1 I mean we have finalised and caught up with all the EU legislation that wasn’t there before. You have seen the recent ECOFIN (the European Council of Economic and Finance Ministers) decision on Gibraltar’s tax system and tax structures, which 26 to 1 voted in favour of approving our Income Tax Act, which is an important milestone. In financial services we are now taking a series of legislative steps, as a result of requests made by the private sector. The industry has asked us to make certain changes, which we will be introducing over the next 3 to 4 months that will bring these all up to date.

The issues of the fight against tax evasion, transparency and the exchange of information is moving on. Basically the world is changing at a much faster pace than many had anticipated prior to the economic crisis, and I don’t believe those two are not linked; I think they certainly are. So it is important that Gibraltar is at the forefront of that progress and development. All Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories have similarly committed to this project. The important thing is to ensure that when we do take those steps, which we undoubtedly have to, that we are not alone; that there is a level playing field with other jurisdictions, I don’t think we should be first, and I don’t think we should be last, but we need to be certainly at the forefront of that development.

There is a huge amount of change coming; FATCA US and UK, the 4th Money Laundering Directive, E5 Pilot programme, the G8 and G20 initiatives and the OECD Peer II review in early 2014 are just some of the issues we are and will be dealing with for some time.

B2BBut there are a lot of anomalies. I read recently that 60% of all the American companies on the exchange in New York are actually registered in Delaware, which in itself is a low tax jurisdiction.

Albert Exactly the point. The level playing field requires all jurisdictions to comply similarly and not simply force the small territories to comply whilst maintaining their own unfair advantage for their own territories. The change requires to be fair for all. It is a pretty basic fundamental requirement that it applies across the board, because if at the end of the day it doesn’t, then all that is going to happen is that there will be a flight of capital to the places and the parts of the world which are least well regulated, or permitted to sustain what are today unacceptable practices.

B2B It is going to take time to change the system so to speak?

AlbertI think it is a long process. I mean the US initiative was delayed by six months a few weeks ago. It is very easy to say yes we will do this by a certain date in July, but when you realise you have to exchange agreements with 120 countries, suddenly it is not quite so feasible. There are some pretty ambitious targets and I think it is important that we stay abreast of those targets and also of course fundamentally important; keep the industry abreast of what is happening and where we are going. To do this we need to create a far more fluid exchange of information internally with the industry and the private sector, so that everyone is fully aware of what we are doing, and that they don’t just read about it in the newspaper.

B2B Finally, the annual Gibraltar Day in London. Have you got any specific plans for that this year?

Albert I do. It is going ahead pretty much in the same format that it did last year. The main presentation will be by the Chief Minister, because I think it important that he does it because he is the magnet that will bring in the people we want to attract to these events in London. I am talking about the financial services lunch, obviously, and he has accepted the invitation to make that presentation and we are looking at ways in which we can slightly improve and enhance. We are also thinking about how we can possibly expand it, not the financial services lunch, but have a similar albeit smaller session for the gaming community on the following morning. Also perhaps looking at whether we should be doing something similar, as was originally conceived when it started, for tourism. London is a hub for Gibraltar PLC and its essential we spare no effort in getting the most out of the day for our various sectors to benefit from.

B2B Thank you very much Minister.

11

‘Passage to Asia’ 2nd World Music Festival

what’s next?“Expect to take a trip on a metaphorical magic carpet over

Minor Asia, observing its music and culture in the most delightful way” boasted Fatosh Samuray, MD of Gibraltar

Productions, organisers of the second Gibraltar World Music Festival in June. And she didn’t disappoint!

2 0 1 4

The Sweet Canary Ensemble12

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Gibraltar Productions is the brainchild of Yan Delgado and Frederic Ohana. They were the driving force behind the first Gibraltar World Music Festival “Sephardic Divas” back in 2012. The Festival’s great success let them to

develop a bigger festival in 2013.

A testament to the organiser’s view that there is no place in culture for politics, “Our aim is to unite cultures and religions together on stage; to bring harmony from troubled histories,” Fatosh Sumary told B2B. “Not only are we bringing together nations which historically and culturally have seen great conflict, but closer to home everyone is coming together, united in their love of music, with the Festival receiving backing from both the Government and the Spanish Instituto Cervantes.”

It was also an opportunity for business, with companies such as Hassans, SG Hambros, the Bland Group of Companies and Hyperion to combine culture with business in an atmosphere of philanthropy. Yan Delgado, founder of Gibraltar Productions, commented that next year he hopes that the festival will broaden even more to provide more opportunities for business to interact with the Festival and get more involved.

The festival itself was a magical blend of music and culture from Greece, Turkey, Israel, Palestine and Iran and took place over 3 days and nights. The first event, held at the Instituto Cervantes, saw the presentation of ‘My Sweet Canary’, directed by Roy Sher, a documentary which follows the steps of the most famous Greek singer of Reberiko, Roza Eskenazi. It was attended by Julio Montesino, special delegate from the Ministry of Foreign affairs and Cooperation in the Campo de Gibraltar, Yan Delgado and Roy Sher himself.

St. Michael’s Cave made for a unique and magnificent setting as the backdrop to the concerts giving the perfect ethereal atmosphere to the music. The first night of the festival proper welcomed the ensemble En Chordais from Thessaloniki, Greece. The group combines Byzantine and art music of the Mediterranean with Greek regional idioms and contemporary music. This set the tone for the festival. The main show of the night was the Sweet Canary Ensemble. Three Divas - Yota Nega from Greece, Mehtap Demir from Turkey and Mor Karbasi from Israel

- who performed together on stage with 12 musicians in celebration of colours and languages.

The following night was lead by the Mark Eliyahu Ensemble, featuring both Mark and his father. He is an international master of the Kamencheh, the Persian “violin”. His enchanting, magical, desert-like compositions captured the audience in the Cave as he has done with audiences around the globe.

The headline act of the night and a fitting climax to the whole Festival, was undoubtedly Yasmin Levy, the leading Sephardic Diva. She performed, with the Mediterranean Andalusian Orchestra Ashkelonan of over 28 musicians from Israel and Palestine, a powerful and exotic mixture of oriental and Mediterranean classics from the Arab world and the Maghreb arranged and conducted by Tom Cohen, Artistic Director of the Gibraltar World Music Festival. Yan Delgado told B2B that following the success of this year’s event, it is hoped that the World Music Festival in 2014 will be a month long event of education, business forums, exhibitions and the concerts themselves with an opportunity for the business community to participate along with the wider general public in Gibraltar.

An ambitious aim maybe, but the conviction and enthusiasm of Yan and his team is infectious.

A DVD and documentary of the festival is currently being produced which will be available in October/November and Gibraltar Productions will be taking a stand in October at WOMEX, the World Music Expo, for the second time, at which they hope to showcase the festival to a wider audience.

If you want to find out more about how you can get involved, please contact Fatosh, Jose Luis or Yan at Gibraltar Productions on 350 20068899 or email them at info@gibraltarproductions.comwww.gibraltarproductions.com

Yasmin Levy

13

Mark Eliyahu

Investing in a dynamic environment:Is risk profiling the answer?A key challenge facing investors today, in the current uncertain markets, is how to protect your existing wealth, as well as harvest investment opportunities provided by the markets.

It is well known that risk and return go hand in hand. Without risk, good returns are not feasible. However clever diversification can reduce the risks without sacrificing the returns.

The concept of diversification is very old.  The idea appeared in the English language for the first time in the 18th century as “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”, but diversification can be traced even further back in time to the Jewish Talmud, over two thousand years ago: “Let every man divide his money into three parts; invest a third in land, a third in business and let him have a third in reserve”, and according to economics Nobel-prize winner Harry Markowitz, diversification is the only free lunch available on Wall Street!

Many modern studies have shown that the correct asset allocation (i.e. investing your money into equities, bonds, real estate, commodities, cash) almost exclusively determines both the risk of your portfolio and the final return. The impact of market-timing and security selection are negligible in respect of the long-term returns and risks.

What is the correct asset allocation?

This differs by investor’s personal circumstances, the goals being set, the time horizon and the attitude towards risk taken. Banks and asset managers spend considerable amounts of time determining each client’s personal risk profile and subsequently set certain diversification rules over the several asset classes. But is this enough in the current dynamic investment environment, where well regarded ‘safe assets’ for example, German 10 year bonds, are only delivering a 1.15% yield per year? (i.e. bonds do not compensate enough to cover the current inflation of 2.2% per year). And what if the economic circumstances change; Europe begins to recover from recession and inflation goes up again? Should one still want to be in bonds?

Well, there is a strong belief that if economic circumstances change, one should change the asset allocation accordingly. As the famous British economist John Maynard Keynes said; “When facts change, I change my mind, what do you do Sir?”. So as a result, an in-house Investment Clock was developed. This measures the growth and price developments in the markets, determining in which phase of the economy we are.

A typical economic cycle consists of four main phases which follow each other usually in a fixed order, like a clock:

Recession (as Europe now is): a business cycle contraction with a general slowdown in economic activity. Inflation and growth decline. Bonds benefit from the decline in interest rates and are the preferred asset class.

Recovery (as the US and Emerging Markets are today): economic growth rises and productivity and corporate profits increase. Excess capacity at companies has not been eliminated; inflation remains low. Equities are the best investment.Overheating: aggregate demand is increasing so fast that it cannot be met by the economy’s productive capacity and is thus, liable to fuel inflation. Commodities do well in this environment.Slowdown: an inflationary period accompanied by rising unemployment, lack of growth in consumer demand and business activity. The best investment here is a combination of bonds and cash.

The indicators used to determine “where we are in the cycle” relate to economic activity of the previous periods and expectations for future production, new orders, inventories, employment and factory deliveries.

Investment Clock

The Investment Clock strategy improves the risk-return profile of a typical balanced portfolio significantly, as a result of the ability to deliver returns under all market conditions. A further benefit is that it is 100% rules-based and is naturally easy to understand.

Besides changes in economic circumstances, “swings in sentiment” are important to overall return and risks in one’s portfolio. History shows that assets can exhibit sustained periods of underperformance relative to one another, due to the “fear and greed” drifts in markets.

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Relative Rotation Graphs

A unique tool to visualize the relative strength of mood swings in the market are ‘Relative Rotation Graphs’ (RRG). This tool is available on Bloomberg professional terminals and will soon be released on Thomson Reuters EIKON systems. Since its release in January 2011 the functionality is used by 3000 to 5000 users on a daily basis. RRG’s are used to visualize the relative strength of all elements in a universe vis-à-vis a benchmark. Rotation generally takes place in a clockwise direction, with the top right quadrant showing the leading sectors. The technology can be applied to all asset classes but also on asset class level. This type of visualization gives market professionals the “big picture, in one picture” and enables them to keep an eye on what is going on in the whole of their universe.

Equity Risk Premium

Lastly, but no less important, the Equity Risk Premium (ERP), a valuable tool for considering the relative value between stocks and bonds. The Equity Risk Premium can be calculated by adding the real earnings growth rate of the equity market with the dividend yield, which gives you the expected real return of equities. If you subtract from this figure the real interest rate (the nominal interest rate minus inflation), you end up with the implied Equity Risk Premium. Normally the ERP is between 0 and 6%. When the ERP reaches the upper/lower levels of its historical range, it provides a powerful signal as to which asset class (bonds or equities) do better against each other. Today, the ERP is at the top range of its range, which suggests the investor should be overweight in equities versus bonds.The traditional static approaches of risk profiling and market implementation between asset classes are becoming increasingly outdated. The principal issue with the traditional approaches is that they tend to be backward-looking and as such, could potentially increase investors’ exposure to potential market bubbles, i.e. historic safe assets such as sovereign bonds.

Therefore we advise using the above mentioned three asset class tools. This approach significantly outperforms an equally weighted portfolio, furthermore it gives the investor peace of mind, with the knowledge that the composition of the portfolio is changing seamlessly according to the market circumstances.

Ron Westdorp, Managing DirectorTaler Asset Management Ltd.

The Gibunco Gibraltar International Literary FestivalLaunches its official festival website

By clicking onto gibraltarliteraryfestival.com, visitors can now buy tickets for this year’s festival and subscribe to the official e-zine containing all the latest news as well as information on authors and events taking place at the

festival.

The Festival, the first of its kind on the Rock, is an initiative of Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar and is directed by the organisers of the Oxford Literary Festival. It takes place from Friday 25th- Sunday 27th October 2013. Alongside a stellar line-up of international authors, including prize-winning author Joanne Harris and Man Booker Prize winner Ben Okri, the programme reflects the rich cultural heritage that comes from Gibraltar’s location between Europe and Africa and from the influence of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

Richard Hamilton will recount the tale of how he tracked down the last few remaining storytellers of the Marrakech Medina to record their tales for his book, The Last Storytellers: Tales from the Heart of Morocco. Whilst Tom Mogford and Jason Webster authors of thrillers set in the Mediterranean will bring a sense of danger to the Festival as they discuss crime in the sun. Novelist, and former Moroccan culture minister, Mohammed Achaari will take part in an event, as will a range of Spanish authors including Mercedes Aguirre.

Three of the world’s most celebrated chefs and cookery writers, Claudia Roden, Ken Hom and Madhur Jaffrey will bring flavours from around the world to Gibraltar; other well-known globetrotters joining the Festival include former BBC foreign correspondent Kate Adie, and, from closer to home, the Gibraltar mystery writing duo Sam Benady and Mary Chiappe.

The Hon Neil Costa MP, Minister for Tourism, Commercial Affairs, Public Transport and the Port told B2B, “Gibraltar has never seen such a stellar line-up of talent come together to celebrate their literary richness with us. I’m delighted that some of our very own authors will have the opportunity to share their stories with such world-renowned writers. I, personally, am looking forward to attending as many events as I’m able to and I encourage anyone who has any interest in literature to do so too.”

Sally Dunsmore, Festival Director, commented “This will be a truly international festival. We have more than 50 writers coming from Morocco, Spain, France, Africa, the US, the UK, and, of course, from Gibraltar. We are putting together a programme of world-class writers and public figures that we hope Gibraltarians will enjoy and that will also put Gibraltar on the literary map.”

Chesterton Estate Agents Gibraltar is pleased to sponsor a special talk on GK Chesterton at this year’s Literary Festival.  It will be given by the distinguished literary critic, biographer and novelist, D.J. Taylor.  Acclaimed for his biographies of Thackeray and George Orwell (winner of the Whitbread prize), Taylor has written nine novels and four acclaimed works on 20th century British fiction.  He is currently working on a study of major inter-war British novelists. Gilbert Keith Chesterton, author, wit and social critic was born in London, England on the 29th of May, 1874.   His paternal great grandfather, grandfather and father were engaged in the family business of selling property, which was established in London in 1805 and is now worldwide, including in Gibraltar since 2008.

Madhur Jaffrey

Ben Okri

Joanne Harris

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Remote e-gaming update

T he potential turbulence for Gibraltar’s remote gaming is now looming. The UK Government is advancing proposals to apply a “place of consumption” tax on gross revenues from UK consumers with planned

implementation in December 2014. The fairly well-aired arguments about stimulating a black market and the potential threat to the UK consumers’ best interests have not stopped the coalition government. So far.

Fortunately the grave and present danger is recognised by our Government as well as the industry here in Gibraltar. With the exception of a few we understand, there is a strong core of operators who are devoting a great deal of resource to the issue. The Gibraltar Betting & Gaming Association is the focus of the activities and has appointed thrusting young lawyer, Peter Howitt (of Ramparts) as it’s CEO. We understand that some of the most

experienced and sharpest minds on The Rock are also on the team as advisors. It seems they will need all of these dynamic forces to change the ideology in the UK at the moment and pull HM Treasury and DCMS away from what would be a disaster for the British remote gambling consumer and bad news indeed for the economy of Gibraltar.

On a brighter note, European Football is now back in full swing keeping most of the good people in the industry busy. Results seem to have been kind to the bookmakers so far.

Meanwhile having already experienced the delights of a French jail, Nobby and Manny, founders of the Bwin part of Bwin.party have decided not to travel to France just recently for their latest clash with authorities there. Who can blame them!

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Call in and ask about our exclusive Wine Club

5-7 Main Street | t: 200 77210shop@anglo.gi | www.anglo.gi

Gibraltar (GIB) Airport ScheduleThe schedule for September 2013 and up to

26th October is as follows:

Winter schedule

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ManchesterGatwickLutonHeathrow

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BirminghamGatwickHeathrowHeathrowLuton

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GatwickLuton HeathrowManchester

GatwickHeathrowHeathrow

BirminghamGatwickHeathrowHeathrowLuton

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Arrivals

Departures

Airline UpdateThe winter schedule commences on Sunday 27 October this year and each of the airlines serving Gibraltar has now released their timetables.

British Airways (BA) will continue to operate 9 weekly flights to London Heathrow (LHR). As usual during the winter months the daily service (BA490/1) moves back by just two hours. The airline continues to operate an additional flight on Saturday and Sunday.easyJet (EZY) will operate a daily service to London Gatwick (LGW). The flights have been retimed to arrive in Gibraltar just over 30mins earlier.

Monarch (ZB) has confirmed that it will continue to operate thrice weekly flights from Birmingham (BHX). The airline’s Manchester (MAN) service will also run three times per week.

London Luton (LTN) will be served four times weekly. There will, as usual, be additional flights around Christmas and New Year.

Ryanair increases hold baggage chargesAccording to Michael O’Leary, the budget airline’s flamboyant CEO, 20% of the carrier’s passengers check baggage onto its flights. His stated aim is to reduce that figure still further. The central part of that strategy is to further increase charges for checking in luggage. The airline confirmed that it has increased the charge from €30 to €50 for the summer. The rationale is clear and perhaps cynical – that passengers going on holiday travel with more luggage!

easyJet developmentsAs reported previously, easyJet has introduced mobile check-in and boarding passes. After a successful trial from a small number of departure points, the facility has now been extended to any flights departing from 83 different airports. The facility allows passengers to check-in online and download a mobile boarding pass to their IPhone or Android mobile device. The boarding pass is scanned at checkpoints by presenting the device.The airline has also confirmed that passengers purchasing its ‘flexi fares’ will now be entitled to free fast track security at a number of airports across its network. The scheme currently covers 27 airports and is expected to be widened further.

Vueling and IAGSpanish low cost airline Vueling is now majority owned by the IAG Group, the owners of Iberia and British Airways. Over the last couple of years the airline has expanded rapidly with a large increase in destinations served and a growing fleet. To cater for further development the airline is to receive 120 new Airbus A320 aircraft recently forming part of a 220 unit order placed by the parent company.

Málaga (AGP)Swiss (LX) has confirmed that it is to convert its summer seasonal route to Geneva (GVA) into a year round service. The route will operate twice weekly. The service will offer direct competition to easyJet (EZY) which maintains a service throughout the year. US carrier Delta Air Lines (DL) has confirmed that it will again offer a non-stop flight to New York JFK (JFK) next summer. Frequency on the route will increase to daily and the service will operate from 24 May 2014 until early September.As with previous years Ryanair (FR) will discontinue a number of routes for the winter season. Destinations which will not be served from early November include Milan Bergamo (BGY), Santander (SDR), Palma Majorca (PMI) and Shannon (SNN).The airline will however continue to serve a total of 31 destinations during the winter. It is expected that most of the discontinued routes will recommence in March 2014.

Jerez de la Frontera (XRY)Ryanair (FR) will discontinue its five weekly flights to London Stansted (STN) with effect from 04 November. Its twice weekly service to Frankfurt Hahn (HHN) will also cease from 05 November. It is expected that these flights will return for the 2014 summer season.

Article by Brian T. Richardsatc@brianrichards.com

www.brianrichards.com/atc.htm

Life has moved on...lineSapphire Networks, growing with your needs

Sapphire NetworksSuite 3.0.3 Eurotowers, PO Box 797, GibraltarTel: +350 200 47 200 | info@sapphire.gi

www.sapphire.gi

www.gibtele.com Tel. (+350) 20052200

www. .giby

As from 1 July 2013 reload customers will benefit from reduced calling rates, SMS and data charges

Standard rate calls to local fixed lines From 20p to 18p per minute

Cheap rate calls to local fixed linesFrom 15p to 13p per minute

SMSFrom 8p to 6p per message

DataMobile Internet 0 (out of bundle) From 40p to 35p per MB

Reductions

www.gibtele.com Tel. (+350) 20052200

www. .giby

As from 1 July 2013 reload customers will benefit from reduced calling rates, SMS and data charges

Standard rate calls to local fixed lines From 20p to 18p per minute

Cheap rate calls to local fixed linesFrom 15p to 13p per minute

SMSFrom 8p to 6p per message

DataMobile Internet 0 (out of bundle) From 40p to 35p per MB

Reductions

RGYC Regatta 2013

The largest class, attracting ten RI 2 and 3 rated yachts from both Gibraltar and near Spain, was headed by Kouko from La Linea, wining 2 of the 3 races over the weekend and coming second in the third. The highest

placed Gibraltar yacht was Ernest Felipes in Tanjaoui, who came a creditable third.

In the J80 class Intention, skippered by Jimmy Coelho and Caine Frederico, came first of four yachts over the weekend with wins in two of the three races.

In the open class Ian Philips, with his Corsair Sprint Trimaran, Trianneka took the honours in all three

races. A very satisfying weekend’s sailing for him and his crew from the USSC.

Saturday saw the exciting ‘Round the Rock’ race. “This is what attracts

most interest in our event” Miko Capurro told B2B.

“It is a difficult race with testing conditions. It takes the boats across the Bay and back before turning out around Europa Point to preset buoys and back to the Bay again. The J80s and RI classes start first with the open class following on after.”

Sunday saw a further two races across the bay to the Spanish shoreline and back again. These are much more technically demanding races and they depend to a larger extent on tactics and not on the vagaries of the wind.

Miko Capurro told B2B that next year it is hoped that the Gibraltar Regatta will feature on the calendar as one of the

official races in the Spanish series. It is hoped that this will attract even more crews to take part as one of the series.

Thanks to Becks once again for their continuing support, Miss Gibraltar Maroua Kharbouch and to

Sydney Pilcher, Race Organiser and RGYC Secretary for hosting the prize giving held on

Sunday evening at the Yacht Club’s splendid new premises in Coaling Island.

The last weekend of July saw the waters of the bay bright with sails again for the annual RGYC summer Regatta sponsored by Becks. 21 boats took part in 3 categories over the two-day Regatta comprising J80s, RI rated yachts and the RGYC’s own classification group, without a specific rating. A couple of the regular well-known local crews were unfortunately unable to muster crews for this year’s racing. However, the event was well fought with competitive crews from both Gibraltar and the coast.

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Chamber elects new board member

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The Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce is delighted to welcome new Board Director George Dyke, owner and CEO of Incargo Shipping Services Ltd., Gibraltar. He is 52 years old and is married with 3 grown-up children.

Born and educated in Gibraltar, George has spent his career in the shipping industry.

He told B2B, “It has been quite an exciting career within a very competitive and even cut-throat shipping industry, in which, at the age of 35, I was fortunate enough to be appointed as head of one of the leading ship agency companies in Gibraltar, Inchcape Shipping Services, which formed part of the largest worldwide ship agency network organisation at the time, boasting 250 offices in 50 different countries.”

Many records were broken during these years, but perhaps their best achievement was to maintain a 22% to 25% volume of the overall ship agency business at Gibraltar, consistently between the time he joined the company in 1979 and when he unfortunately had to leave for health reasons in 1999.

He maintains that the reason for the high measure of success was mainly due to the elevated level of service attained and maintained throughout those years, which perhaps explains the ease with which they were able to introduce the Quality Assurance ISO programme, which was done in a record time of 2 months.

The new millenium saw George, together with 2 former colleagues, challenge themselves into launching a wholly new agency, which, five years down the line, has seen them firmly established as one of the leading agents in the Gibraltar market, opening a branch office at Ceuta and actively involved with business in hinterland ports.

Possibly due to the success of this project, George told us that “I was presented with yet another challenge, which was a position in Madrid with a fast developing Network. My association with Messrs. Incargo and Intercruises tremendously widened my business parameters and has seen me involved in numerous large scale international projects, amongst which has been the setting up of an office in Gibraltar, which is already today seeing us handling a great percentage of cruise and tramp calls at this port.”

All in all, and although there has been many a long hour spent, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, with substantial periods of time away from home where global travels have taken him, it has been an exciting and challenging career so far, with plenty of rewards in so far as work satisfaction and personal achievements are concerned and still with plenty more to look forward to.

The Chamber welcomes George to the Board.

chamber News

chamber News

Chamber hosts bi-election dinner for the candidates

A few days prior to the bi-election the Chamber held a well attended dinner at the Caleta Hotel. Guests heard from all 4 candidates in speeches setting out their vision, along with a Q&A session at the end. All candidates were allotted a specific time limit so as to make best use of the time available.

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Dedicated Apps are available for both retail

and business customers. The banking Apps enable

personal and business customers to transfer money

between accounts, check balances, view mini-statements and

check directions to where the nearest NatWest branch or cash machine are

located.

Additional functionality exclusive to the new business banking App features include the

ability for customers to view multiple accounts within the same App, without the need to log out

and back in again with different account details and the ability to view a full statement of recent

transactions.

David Bruce, Regional Director, NatWest in Gibraltar, commented: ‘NatWest is the only bank offshore to offer

dedicated Apps for both retail and business customers. They enable customers to access banking facilities anytime and anywhere and recognise the fact that increasingly customers want to be able to manage their money whilst on the move. The new Apps will give our customers more control of their finances and help them keep a track on payments and balances, wherever they are.’

Available for iPhone devices, the new Apps can be downloaded free of charge following a simple and secure registration process for existing online banking customers of the Bank. It is available to all other personal and business customers of NatWest once they have registered for online banking.

Customers wishing to download the Apps can do so by going to the iTunes App store on their iPhone and keying in the words NatWest Offshore.

Mobile banking: Additional charges may apply for all networks. Please check with your network provider.

NatWest in Gibraltar has appointed Richard Bolingbroke to head up the Bank’s Treasury function.

Richard, who has worked in the finance industry for 15 years, was most recently an associate in Corporate Risk Solutions with RBS Global Banking Markets in Edinburgh where he managed the interest rate risk solutions for UK corporate clients in Scotland. He first joined the RBS Group in 2001 and has worked in managerial roles since 2004 including three years in commercial and product management. In his new role as Vice President of Treasury and Investor Solutions at NatWest, Richard will manage the foreign exchange risk solutions for clients in Gibraltar.

David Bruce, Regional Director, NatWest in Gibraltar, commented: ‘Treasury Services are fundamental to how we support our clients manage their risks and Richard’s role will primarily focus on foreign exchange risk management. Treasury is one of the cornerstones of our service offering to corporate clients in Gibraltar and I am delighted to welcome Richard who has crucial front line experience in Edinburgh in managing the risk needs of major corporate and institutional business.’

Richard’s wife and three children have also moved to Gibraltar and he hopes to pursue some of his sporting interests in his spare time which includes football, which he played at a semi-professional level in England, golf, cycling and cricket.

Customers of NatWest can now download a new App designed to help them manage their finances from their iPhone.

NatWest launches

iPhone banking services in Gibraltar

NatWest in Gibraltar has appointed a new

Head of Treasury Services

25

Gibtelecom has announced that it is currently recruiting for a new flagship ‘Employer Led Degree Programme’. Through this scheme Gibtelecom is offering students the opportunity to be supported during approved technical studies and to gain guaranteed employment with the Company on successful completion of their degree. “In a dynamic and fast-moving industry that relies on keeping pace with technology, developing top technical talent is crucial for any successful communications business. Gibtelecom’s latest undergraduate initiative aims to do exactly that” says Tim Bristow, Gibtelecom’s CEO.

The Programme is aimed at top students, achieving good A-level results, who study specific degrees related to core telecommunications skills, such as electrical engineering and internet networking. Gibtelecom will support these students by providing work placements during their university breaks; payment during their studies of £1,000 per term; and a golden handshake of £6,000 on successfully taking up employment with Gibtelecom having obtained at least a 2:1 honours degree. This will go some way towards enabling the Company to meet its employment needs locally, through nurturing and developing more home grown technical talent.

• Aimed at top students, achieving good A-level results • Studying degrees related to core telecommunications

skills (e.g. electrical engineering and internet networking) • Provides work placements during university breaks

• Payment of £1,000 per term during your studies

• Guaranteed employment with Gibtelecom after achieving a 2:1 or above degree with a “golden handshake” of £6,000 on entry

This Programme does not run in isolation. It is a successor to the Company’s Sponsored Undergraduate Scheme, which has seen Gibtelecom take on 14 sponsored undergraduates over the last decade, with five of these having found permanent employment with Gibtelecom. When asked about the Scheme, past sponsored undergraduate, Alistair Gomez, who studied an MEng in Electronics and Communications Engineering at the University of Kent, described his participation in the scheme as “Having the scholarship from Gibtelecom, really helped cement the material I was learning at University. As a sponsored student, I was given the choice to work for the Company on Christmas and Easter breaks, allowing me to increase my course’s understanding by being more hands on as opposed to the more theoretical approach at university without mentioning the financial benefit. The friendly atmosphere and several areas of expertise acted as a pragmatic guide in my choice of modulesregarding to the industry. Overall, an invaluable experience to any aspiring professional going to study at university.”

On successful completion of his Master’s degree, Alistair commenced working for Gibtelecom’s Wireline Department, handling the complexities of fixed line switching and transmission technology.

Gibtelecom also runs a work placement scheme for students requiring to take a year in an industry as part of their course. Jadren Garcia participated in this scheme in September 2011 and he mentions that “this placement provided me with a real life perspective of my degree which has led on to actually applying the knowledge learnt in my final year”. Jadren successfully completed his degree this year and

Gibtelecom invests in home grown

talent

26

commenced working for Gibtelecom in September 2013 in the Next Generation Network department.

The Company also offers placements to university students over the summer – a popular scheme which has seen 520 placements, repre-senting over 280 students, since its inception in 1993.

In addition there is the Gibtelecom Apprenticeship Scheme, where sixteen apprentices to date have benefited from telecommunications training and an internationally recognised qualification (Intermediate Certificate in Communications Technology Practitioners Level 2) from Gibtelecom, in partnership with the Government of Gibraltar.

Eight apprentices (first intake) have already completed their four years apprenticeship scheme and the BTEC Level 3 Diplomas in Professional Competence for IT and Telecoms Professional. These apprentices are all currently employed with Gibtelecom.

Tyronne Garcia, a former apprentice from the first intake who has now taken up employment with Gibtelecom, says “the four year apprencet-iceship scheme has provided me with the necessary skills, common knowledge and technology foundations to work in the telecommunica-tions industry across a variety of its customer offering”.

Jaydan Fortunato, also a former apprentice from the first intake men-tions that “this course has given me the necessary skills I needed to further my career in telecommunications, it has also given me the opportunity to work and at the same time learn in one of the most versatile and rapidly growing industries”.

After successfully completing their training programme, Tyronne and Jaydan currently work in Gibtelecom’s External Plant section.Gibtelecom’s Associate Director, Resources, Lesley Louise said “as the leading provider of telecommunications services on the Rock, Gibtelecom is looking to support students who are engaged in technology related studies, and show a keen interest in learning about this rapidly changing technological industry. We require a specific skill set to meet Gibraltar’s communications needs now and in the future, and Gibtelecom is keen to promote and develop these skills locally by developing a talented pool of graduates with relevant qualifications and experience.”

Gibtelecom’s aim is to ensure that Gibraltar trains sufficient young home grown talent to serve one of the pillars of the local economy, telecommunications. The Company’s commitment to this ambition is manifested through the Gibtelecom Apprenticeship Scheme, Gibtele-com’s work placements, Gibtelecom’s sponsored undergraduate scheme and now the Company’s new Employer Led Degree pro-gramme. Gibtelecom will continue its commitment to develop local home grown talent to meet its requirements in the future.

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Alexander Miller, who works within the audit department of Deloitte Gibraltar, was placed 1st in his recent Audit and Assurance exam of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales. The exam is part of the studies towards becoming a chartered accountant and is taken by thousands of students globally each year.

1,773 people sat the exam throughout the UK, Bangladesh, China, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Greece, Middle East, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. “Alex has performed exceptionally well in obtaining first place in this exam – a testament to his hard work and dedication. From our point of view, it reflects Deloitte Gibraltar’s determination to attract the best talent. There are several students in our ranks with the potential to repeat this feat on future exams.” Jon Tricker, partner Audit told B2B. As a result Alexander also won the Watts prize for Audit and Assurance.

RBSI, along with NatWest locally, is not planning any review of its local business. That was the simple message delivered by Adrian Gill, Chief Executive Officer of RBSI. “We remain fully committed to our future and your future here in Gibraltar,” Mr Gill told B2B as the bank celebrated its 25th anniversary of operations on the Rock. Gill was visiting Gibraltar to celebrate the banks anniversary.

Mr Gill’s reassurance was reiterated by David Bruce, Regional Director in Gibraltar, who announced he was “focused on the further expansion of our corporate business and commercial real estate banking business in Gibraltar. Our business in Gibraltar is stable and profitable,”

Locally RBSI/NatWest employs 140 people in the Gibraltar branches.

Deloitte Gibraltar trainee gets top UK award 

RBSI and NatWest “To stay & grow”

27

The Royal Marines will commemorate the 350th Anniversary of the Corps’ Foundation on 28th October 2014 and to mark the occasion, the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund (RMCTF) have set a target of raising £6 million by that time to help Royal Marines who have been wounded or injured in Afghanistan and on other hazardous operations, B2B reports.

MH Bland & Co Ltd recently announced that Henry Catania and Chris Wood have been invited and have accepted positions as Directors of Calypso Tours Ltd and MH Bland Marine Services Ltd.

In the past decade the Royal Marine Commandos have borne the brunt of continuous operational service in Iraq and Afghanistan. The cost of these commitments has been severe in terms of amputation, blast injuries, gunshot wounds and post traumatic stress.

The RMCTF exists to provide swift and flexible responses to these outcomes of hard fought active service. Whilst there is active support from the major charities that work across the services, it is the RMCTF that gives Royal Marines the ready to hand resources that are sorely needed now for immediate and

long-term rehabilitation and resettlement.

Former Royal Marine Alan Hardy aims to raise over £500,000 towards the RMCTF target by recruiting 350 UK fundraisers – one for each year of the Marine Corps’ history – to take on the famous GIBRALTAR Rock Run. The Rock Run tradition is well-known to Royal Marine and Royal Navy personnel who have spent time in Gibraltar over the past 50 years. The individual record for the 2.7 miles run is 17 minutes 29 seconds, held by a crew member of HMS Glasgow and the fastest team record is held by the Royal Marine Barracks in Poole, Dorset.

The Rock Run event will be one of the formal 350th Birthday Celebration Events for the Royal Marines and include a Birthday Celebration at the superb Rock Hotel, plus a Reception hosted by His Excellency the Governor for the top fundraisers and will culminate in a superb Awards Ceremony on Sunday evening in St Michael’s Cave.

Alan Hardy told B2B “as a 3rd generation Royal Marine in my family I am keen to support my ex-colleagues in whatever way I can and would ask that you join with me in giving every support to this challenge to help ensure the success of the Rock Run in raising funds for the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund”. www.rmctf.org.uk

Chris Wood (left) has worked his way up the chain of command at MH Bland Marine Services, starting as a stevedore, rising through the ranks to Manager, then General Manager. We are delighted to welcome Chris to the board of Directors of MH Bland Marine Services Ltd as an endorsement of the dedication, commitment and loyalty that he has and continues to show to Marine Services as its fields of operation have evolved and grown. Henry Catania (right) joined our Travel Agency as a Manager and has worked tirelessly to bring success to both MH Bland Travel Services and Calypso Tours as Manager and then as General Manager, both in Gibraltar and more recently, in Spain through the acquisition of Calypso Excursions SL. His enthusiasm and energy to expand the Group¹s field of operations knows no bounds. His appointment as a Director of Calypso Tours Ltd not only affirms Henry¹s commitment and loyalty but his absolute resolve in achieving success. The MH Bland Group of Companies Board of Directors welcomes both of these exceptional individuals, Chris and Henry, as Directors and looks forward to their valued contribution in advancing the Group¹s goals.

350 UK & GIBRALTAR FUNDRAISERS TO TAKE ON THE “ROCK” IN SUPPORT OF

ROYAL MARINES CHARITY

MH Bland appoints new Board Directors

28

MH Bland appoints new Board Directors

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Until now the idea that unsubsidised solar power could make enough financial sense to be competitive with conventional forms of electricity generation has been largely confined to the realms of environmental campaigners and renewable energy advocates.www.cocoon.gi

An unsubsidised

solar revolution has begun

However, as solar panels become more efficient and vastly cheaper and household utility bills continue to rise, analysts at some of the world’s largest financial institutions say such a prospect is indeed possible, and likely to cause profound disruption in the energy industry.

When the solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity first came onto the market back in the 1970s they cost around US$70 per watt in today’s prices. Currently, they cost around US 80 cents per watt, with prices plummeting by 80% in the last five years alone.

Part of this price fall has been driven by a glut in supply that grew as solar manufacturers increased production to meet the demand created by EU subsidies. More recently a flood of low cost Chinese panels to the EU, backed by their Government’s financial support, has continued to drive prices down.

Globally, solar power accounts for less than one percent of electricity supply. But its growth has been extraordinary, largely because of the renewable energy subsidies that EU countries began introducing in the 1990s.

Only ten years ago, the generating capacity of the entire worlds solar photovoltaic systems totalled just 2.8 gigawatts, about the same as that of six average-sized coal fired power stations.

Today there is more than102 gigawatts being produced and solar PV power has been the biggest source of new electricity generation for two years in a row in Europe. The industry predicts global capacity will double to 200 gigawatts by 2020.

The life time cost of solar PV power fell below industrial power prices in Germany last year making it cheaper for businesses to install and use their own solar power instead of buying it from a utility. That some firms have done exactly that explains why even those worst hit by the industry’s woes remain optimistic.

Spain is now the third largest solar market in the EU after Germany and Italy. An outcry recently broke out when the Government proposed to impose new charges (6% levy) on rooftop photovoltaic installations in July this year. One resident when asked replied “this is complete and utter madness, this is an outrage they are expecting me to pay them for the energy I have produced at my expense and that I will consume myself”.

The Madrid government argues the levy is fairer and also it will help it to keep tabs on the growth of solar power at a time when Spain’s overall electricity capacity is far higher than peak demand (about 60%). Iberdrola, Spain’s largest power utility by sales, said it did not push for the new levy but believes Spain’s once generous solar subsidies have created a bubble of uncontrollable growth in solar installations. This meant that people with solar panels in their homes were not contributing equitably to maintenance of the grid which everyone uses.

Regulators still have to decide if the utilities companies will get their way. What appears to be certain however is that the surge in solar power is changing energy markets around the world in ways we are only just beginning to understand.

Solar power promises to provide regular electricity to the 1.2bn people who have no access to regular power supplies today. Low cost solar panels could help thee communities leapfrog traditional power grids in the same way parts of the developing world side stepped fixed-line telecommunications networks and went straight to advanced mobile phone networks.

An overriding consideration when deciding on how our power is produced is to determine what role fossil fuel power stations will have in the future and it can be combined with renewable energies into the overall plan.

What we do not need is the opposite scenario: a power station that nobody needs and everyone has to subsidise because we are generating power from renewable resources.

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Original Thinking

time after time

Triay & Triay, 28 Irish Town, GibraltarTel: +350 200 72020 • Fax: +350 200 72270 • www.triay.com • info@triay.com

• Financial Services• Intellectual Property & Trademarks• Family• Employment• Criminal

Gibraltar’s prominence as a mainstream European finance centre is now well established. Internationally

renowned for its high regulatory standards and attractive new tax and EIF regimes it is an important

jurisdiction for both personal and corporate wealth. At the forefront of this growing recognition is Triay &

Triay one of Gibraltar’s most respected and prestigious law firms. With over 105 years experience, a

visionary and practical approach to our clients’ needs has secured outstanding levels of satisfaction. So

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Triay_B2B:Layout 1 1/30/13 3:49 PM Page 1

TRIAY STAGNETTO NEISHBarristers & Solicitors

Burns House, 19 Town Range, GibraltarTel: (+350) 200 79423 / 200 73530

Fax: (+350) 200 71405Email: tsn@tsnlaw.com

www.tsnlaw.com

Ernst and Young has returned to Gibraltar after a 14 year absence. Following discussions between the directors of Baker Tilly Gibraltar, five directors, together with their assurance and tax services personnel, will transfer their services to EY and will commence trading in Gibraltar in September 2013, subject to FSC final approval.

The new organization will have 40 people and will be led by Jose Julio Pisharello, former Chairman at Baker Tilly Gibraltar. It will provide audit, accountancy, tax and general business consultancy services to businesses based in Gibraltar, with teams specialised in the financial services and gaming industries. Jose Julio is joined by a team of four directors Angelique Linares, Johann Olivera, Neil Rumford and Dale Cruz. Both BTG and EY will operate from Regal House, albeit on a different floor.

With a presence in Gibraltar, EY will extend its footprint to 152 countries and territories worldwide. EY wishes to return to the Gibraltar market, following a 14 year absence, to meet the needs of its global clients and develop a presence in the growing local financial services market.

Jose Julio Pisharello, the Managing Partner of the new member firm, told B2B, “We are looking forward to joining the EY network and to having the opportunity to access EY’s exceptional technical resources and specialised training. This will enable us to provide enhanced services to our client base in Gibraltar and other markets in which they operate.”

Andy Baldwin, EY’s Head of Financial Services, for Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa told B2B, “We are responding to client demand. Gibraltar is becoming an important and growing market for insurance, asset management, private banking and gaming. Having a presence in Gibraltar will allow us to better serve our existing clients as well as provide opportunities for collaboration within our financial services business globally, especially the Americas.”

EY returns to Gibraltar

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TRIAY STAGNETTO NEISHBarristers & Solicitors

Burns House, 19 Town Range, GibraltarTel: (+350) 200 79423 / 200 73530

Fax: (+350) 200 71405Email: tsn@tsnlaw.com

www.tsnlaw.com33

Success for Deloitte Gibraltar in ACCA examsIn the recent Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) exams 4 of the Deloitte team passed their final exams towards the ACCA qualification: Colin Bensadon, Ian Clark, Giverny Hunter and Julian Pitaluga.

Jon Tricker, partner responsible for learning, told B2B : “Qualification as a Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is no easy task. In addition to examining candidates on accounting, audit and tax, the qualification is extremely rounded and ACCA professionals can be found leading businesses all over the world. It takes a lot of hard work and commitment to complete the

ACCA exams and this is an important milestone in the careers of all 4 of them, so we are delighted to congratulate them all. In addition to completing their exams, all 4 have been equally committed to serving their clients during their time with Deloitte and we wish them all the best as they further their careers with us.”

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Two Further Senior Executives to develop the Financial Services Sector

TSN are pleased to welcome Owen Smith

Insight Recruitment Solutions now in Gibraltar Insight Recruitment Solutions has recently appointed Sarah Pike to establish a subsidiary on behalf of this City of London recruitment consultancy.

Sarah brings with her over 20 years experience to the new venture. Commencing her career and training with a North London consultancy, she worked for many of the UK household names in recruitment, covering a variety of different sectors including office, financial services, technical and warehousing. Sarah moved to Gibraltar in 2010 to join her wider family. Since her relocation, she has worked for a number of local recruitment firms and is a well known name in local employment market. Sarah has gained strong local knowledge and has recruited for all the main industries here including the financial services and gaming sectors.

HM Government of Gibraltar has announced that two further senior executives have been engaged to promote Gibraltar’s Financial Services sector.

Victor Galliano will be based at Gibraltar House in London working on the continued promotion of Gibraltar in the United Kingdom within the Financial Services industry and Philip Canessa will be based in Gibraltar working exclusively with the promotion of Funds and Investment Services. Both Messrs Galliano and Canessa have extensive experience and expertise in their respective areas. The appointments are a further indication of the commitment of this Government to the Sector and to making the investment necessary to properly equip the Finance Centre team with the resources they require and which the Industry has been calling for over the past years.

Mr Canessa and Mr Galliano will be working closely with their colleagues Mike Ashton and Paul Astengo who were engaged some months ago when Gilbert Licudi QC had Ministerial responsibility for the sector. All four senior executives will be working under the direction of the Finance Centre Director, James Tipping.

Philip Canessa has 30 years’ experience in the financial services sector in Gibraltar, London and the Channel Islands working in Banks, specialist investment firms, and hedge funds. Mr Canessa has also held a number of senior positions within the funds industry in Gibraltar such

TSN are pleased to announce the recent addition of Owen Smith to the firm’s partnership.  Owen joined the firm in 2002 having read law at the University of Wales, College of Cardiff.

After undertaking his BVC studies at the College of Law in London, he was called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple in November 2000 and following a stint working in London, to the Gibraltar Bar in February 2003.

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as membership of the Finance Centre Council and Chairmanship of the Gibraltar Association of Stockbrokers and Investment Managers.

Victor Galliano has some 25 years experience in financial services having worked in London for NatWest, Barings, BBVA/LatInvest and most recently HSBC in New York where he covered Latin American financials for the last 7 years, and actively marketed his research to hedge funds and other asset managers.

Albert Isola, Minister with responsibility for Financial Services told B2B, “I am absolutely delighted that the Government has been able to secure the services of two highly experienced financial services professionals in the form of Philip Canessa and Victor Galliano. The Government had a manifesto commitment to reinforce and strengthen the resources available at the Finance Centre Department in the context of new business development and this has been fulfilled. Furthermore, a crucial additional commitment was to ensure that a senior executive responsible for developing new business would be based in London; Europe’s financial capital and a core market for Gibraltar. I am also delighted to complete the process started by my predecessor Gilbert Licudi. I am excited at the prospect of working with this team of professionals in promoting the Gibraltar experience in partnership with our stakeholders in the private sector. “

The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission recently announced that Samantha Barrass has been appointed as its new Chief Executive Officer.

Mrs Barrass will join the Commission on the 17th February 2014 from her current role as an Executive Director of the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) in England and Wales, where she has been at the forefront of delivering the SRA’s high profile reform of legal services regulation. Mrs Barrass has also previously worked at the FSA in a variety of regulatory roles spanning the delivery of new regulatory approaches and policy at both a domestic and international level, the supervision of markets and exchanges, and was one of the first economists employed by the FSA to develop cost-benefit and other evidential techniques for new regulation. She began her working career at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand as an economist focused on monetary policy strategy and economic reform. Mrs Barrass holds a B.Com (Economics), from the University of Canterbury (New Zealand) and an MSc in Economics, from the London School of Economics.

The appointment of an experienced and highly respected regulator will serve the Industry well in its continued development Minister for Financial Services, Albert Isola commented, “Mrs Barrass is an excellent appointment and I am delighted the FSC has been able to secure a CEO with the reputation and experience that Mrs Barrass enjoys. I look forward to working with her and the industry and building on the good work of the FSC over the past years.”

Commission Chairman Alan Whiting, who chaired the Nomination Committee, said: “I am delighted to welcome Samantha as the new Chief Executive of the Financial Services Commission. With Samantha’s proven high calibre and international experience in financial and legal regulation, I am confident that Gibraltar can look forward to continued growth as a successful, prospering and well regulated financial services sector with a high international reputation.” Mrs Barrass said: “The Commission rightly enjoys a strong reputation for delivering high quality regulation of Gibraltar’s growing and prosperous financial services sector. I am very much looking forward to leading the organisation, working closely with stakeholders, to build on those excellent foundations, further develop Gibraltar’s financial services markets and enhance its reputation for excellent regulation of those markets.”

As well as undertaking criminal law work in the Magistrates and Supreme Court, Owen also has a varied dispute resolution practice with a particular emphasis on defendant work in areas such as clinical malpractice, professional negligence and personal injury. He also appears regularly in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal and counts various leading local businesses and service providers amongst his clients. TSN’s Managing Partner Louis B. Triay describes Owen’s appointment as “a reflection, amongst other things, of the firm’s growth and evolution in recent years”, adding that he is “looking forward to his valuable input to the Partnership in the years to come”.

New CEO for FSC

Christopher Wawn, a co-director of the local operation, added that “the London office started to receive specialist placement requests from the Gibraltar insurance sector.” It soon became apparent that an office on the Rock would enhance the overarching service and as Sarah was such a pro active consultant, she was quickly identified as the ideal strategic partner.

Sarah commented that Insight brings with it a corporate culture that believes in the values of professionalism and diligence. “I am delighted that a London business has not only gained my confidence but has identified Gibraltar as a leading player within the international financial services. This has given me the opportunity to bring my extensive experience to the company and to train new talent coming into the industry.”

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Fast. Smart. Mobile.Introducing ouriPhone app dedicatedto business banking

NatWest has launched a smart iPhone app, giving you instant control over your finances when on the move. By delivering the freedom to manage your accounts 24/7, this app gives you more time to focus on moving your business ahead.

Instant benefits:n Manage multiple business accounts using the same appn Search and view up to 7 years of transactionsn Move money easily and quickly between your NatWest accountsn Locate your nearest NatWest branch or cash machine wherever you aren Access and manage your business accounts quickly and easily

The Royal Bank of Scotland International Limited trading as NatWest (NatWest). Registered Office: P.O. Box 64, Royal Bank House, 71 Bath Street, St. Helier, Jersey JE4 8PJ. Regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission. Business address: PO Box 11, 16 Library Place, St Helier, Jersey, JE4 8NH. NatWest is the registered business name of The Royal Bank of Scotland International Limited under the Business Names Registration Act. Gibraltar business address: National Westminster House, PO Box 707, 57 Line Wall Road, Gibraltar. Regulated and authorised by the Financial Services Commission, Gibraltar to undertake Banking and Investment Business from 57 and 55 Line Wall Road and 1 Corral Road, Gibraltar. NatWest will not charge you for any mobile banking services, however, your mobile phone network operator may charge for certain services. Additional overseas network charges may apply for all networks. Please check with your network provider.

Got a minute? Get startedOnce you are registered with NatWest Online BusinessBanking, it only takes a minute to download our dedicated business banking app. Search for NatWest Offshore Business Banking in the Apple App Store.

To find out more, please visit www.natwestinternational.com/business_mobile

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Chesterton has recently added additional firepower to its real estate team by recruiting Michelle Bannister from London.

Michelle joins the residential sales team at Chesterton in response to the significant increase in Gibraltar residential property demand from abroad experienced in 2013.  

She previously worked at Chesterton, in London, in both the Barnes and Battersea offices. The busy London market afforded her both high-end sales and lettings experience.  Previous to this she spent seven years working for an independent estate agent, Hawes & Co, in their Wimbledon Park and New Malden offices.  

She is delighted to return to Chesterton having left the UK to travel and see the world. Michelle’s professional background, prior to estate agency, was in the ‘Quality and Training’ divisions of both the Automobile Association and NHS.

Michelle told B2B “I am passionate about customer care and understand how important and significant a property purchase is in a person’s life.  My ethos is to understand, fulfill and, whenever possible, exceed my client’s expectations.”

Mike Nicholls, Chesterton MD told B2B “This appointment is yet another vote of confidence in the local property market.  Our desire to recruit internationally experienced staff reinforces Chesterton’s position as the leading international real estate agent in Gibraltar. “

More fire power for Chesterton’s Gibraltar office

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Trusted since 1892We offer the stability and security of advice that only the longest established

law firm in Gibraltar can do. So whatever you’re planning,wherever you’re headed, we’re right behind you.

For all your legal requirements, contact:

info@isolas.giPortland House, Glacis Road, PO Box 204, Gibraltar

Tel: +350 2000 1892 Fax: +350 200 78990 www.gibraltarlawyers.com

www.gibraltarlawyers.com

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