At their meeting on Tuesday 27 January 2026, Executive Council endorsed the Financial Services Regulation Policy 2025 that was approved by the former Executive Council in January 2025; the approval of the Financial Services (Amendment) Bill, 2026 to be presented as Government business to the Legislative Council and the approval in principle of the Financial Services (Amendment) Regulations, 2026, to come into force following enactment of the Financial Services (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
The Financial Services Regulation Policy aims to modernise selected parts of our financial services regulatory framework. It is driven by the Sustainable Economic Development Strategy (SEDS) 2023-2033, as well as SHG’s Vision and Strategy. The SEDS states that “SHG has identified that St Helena’s financial services laws and regulations require reform and modernisation to encourage competition within the sector and support economic growth. There are substantial gaps in current legislation. SHG’s objective is to enhance the financial services landscape by removing barriers to entry, while working toward compliance with international best practice and recommendations.” It notes that comprehensive reform and updates to existing financial services laws and regulations are required for St Helena to achieve its development goals.
The Financial Services Regulation Policy 2025 has four key objectives:
- Enhance the attractiveness of St Helena as a place to do business
- Strengthen consumer protection
- Reinforce governance standards
- Improve the effectiveness of our regulatory framework
The objectives are all inter-related. In particular, success in making St Helena a commercially attractive destination for financial services businesses in turn requires a more modern regulatory framework to cope with the needs and expectations of new businesses, especially overseas owned or managed businesses which choose to establish a presence in St Helena. In addition, the regulatory architecture helps to fulfill the customers’ needs of improved consumer protection measures and high-level service standards, in turn increasing the confidence and accountability within the financial service sector.
Minister for Economic Development, Karl Thrower, commented:
“This is an important step in modernising St Helena’s financial services framework. It supports our Sustainable Economic Development Strategy by making St Helena a more attractive place to do business—removing unnecessary barriers, encouraging healthy competition, and strengthening governance.
Just as importantly, these reforms enhance protections for customers by improving consumer safeguards and raising service and accountability standards.”
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