Travel to Zurich & Connect with to the Finance Capitals of the World

Super efficient Zurich Airport, with its 70 airlines serving 135 destinations, is not just the stepping off point for the huge Swiss financial services market, it is a convenient gateway to the new economic powerhouses of Brazil, Russia, India and China as well as the increasingly prosperous Gulf States.

Within minutes of your arrival at Zurich you can be in the city’s financial centre. Or in a few hours you can be on your way to Brazil’s biggest city, Sao Paolo (on Swiss Air), or the capital of Russia, Moscow (also on Swiss), or the Gulf business centres and gateways to India of Dubai and Doha (Emirates and Qatar Airways), or the leading entrepot for China, Hong Kong (also on Swiss). You don’t need an overnight stay for any of these connections or for other lights to Singapore, Bangkok, Seoul or the 40 or so other lights that leave within ive hours of your landing in Zurich.

Ever since Goldman Sachs coined the phrase in 2003, observers have been watching ith awe as the potential of the BRIC markets has been transformed into real growth and real business opportunities.

Channel Islands’ financial specialists who know a thing or two about international investment have increasingly looked further afield than the traditional British markets for business, and they have been quick to recognise the amazing opportunities presented by emerging markets, particularly the Middle East, China and India.

As Geoff Cook, the chief executive of the promotional agency, Jersey Finance, recently told his members: “The dominance of the BRIC economies in growth terms is accelerating, driving major change in global wealth and corporate activity. What are the implications for our planning? Simply put, we must assess the potential business opportunities and ind ways of entering and developing these markets whilst safeguarding our existing business streams. Emerging markets are no longer a fringe activity.”

Certainly there’s nothing fringe about China or India. China is already the world’s fastest growing economy, the third largest trading country and will shortly be the biggest consumer of raw materials. Exports increased ive-fold in just seven years and there are more dollar billionaires in China than any other country in the world except the United States. Anywhere that wealth is generated is a good place for Channel Islands-based banks and other financial institutions, but in China in particular there are huge capital markets to service and Chinese entrepreneurs have already discovered the Channel Islands Stock Exchange as a means of tapping London’s Alternative Investment Market.

India has been slower to emerge as an economic giant, although in some respects it has a more sophisticated economy and has advantages over China as a place in which to do business. A leading Indian technology company already has a base in Jersey, and India’s biggest mobile phone company is using the island as a test bed for global expansion.

Wealth management and investment funds offer the best opportunities for Channel Islands’ firms in India. While nowhere near the same size, the Gulf States have also recently provided Channel Islands’ inancial institutions with rich pickings, starting with the financial needs of expatriates and developing into hedge funds, Sharia-compliant investments and looking after the huge amounts of wealth created by rapidly growing commercial centres such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Both Jersey Finance and Guernsey Finance are regular visitors to the Middle East and they are now expanding their reach to China and India in particular. Guernsey has already appointed a permanent representative in Shanghai, and Jersey is looking at establishing ofices in China and India. These are all perceived to be a rich source of business for the future, although every inancial institution, whether big or small, will need to do their own homework. There are obvious risks in dealing with BRIC countries and other emerging markets, but there are even more obvious opportunities. It’s no wonder that the Channel Islands’ finance sector is looking eastward, and Zurich is a pretty good place to start.