This June, the Association of Corporate Service Providers celebrates its 10th Anniversary.
The association was formed in 1999 with the objective of creating a representative body for providers of fiduciary and corporate management and administration services in the Island, since when it has become the acknowledged voice of the local CSP industry.
Executive officer Antonia King said ‘The ACSP is fortunate to have a board of directors whose combined experience and expertise help influence change in financial services and regulatory legislation. Only very recently we welcomed Paula Coates, an associate director with Abacus Trust Company, to the board.’
Antonia continued ‘The association not only meets with government bodies to represent members’ interests but also works with Isle of Man Finance to promote the Island internationally. We’ve also become renowned for the quality of the industry-specific seminars we organise that attract an exceptionally high calibre of guest speaker.
'It is this reputation that has contributed to our securing sustained sponsorship from some of the Island’s leading organisations, not least Barclays Wealth which supports many of our seminars, all of which are always well attended and, in some instances, oversubscribed, requiring a second session to be held to meet demand.
'We regularly supplement our series of seminars with training programmes, in particular those delivered by BakerPlatt as they are of consistently high quality and relevance to the CSP industry in the Isle of Man.
‘This year, in association with BakerPlatt and with support from the DTI, we’re running Fiduciary Fundamentals: The ACSP Essential Skills Programme for Professional Development, a 12-topic series of courses scheduled to run from June 2009 through to December 2010, with each session counting as three hours of CPD. Topics to be covered will include financial crime, fraud, risk and compliance, and corporate governance.
‘That the association has become such an influential professional body is due in no small part to our founding chairman, David Bester, who remains on the board, and my predecessor, Marie Lambden, both of whom worked tirelessly to establish the ACSP as a key player in bringing the local CSP industry together and helping progress regulatory developments.’
Chairman Philip Dearden said ‘Once a fledgling organisation, 10 years on the ACSP is one of the Island’s most active trade organisations, and holds the important role of a body engaged in lobbying the Island’s regulatory authorities on issues affecting the CSP industry.
'In so doing, the Association has gained the respect of the regulators for its firm but non-confrontational approach and it will continue to look at new ways of supporting its growing number of members.’
The ACSP operates a full and associate membership system. Full membership is open to all fiduciary service licence holders, and associate membership is open to all, on either an individual or corporate basis. Benefits include regular email alerts on industry related issues and forthcoming events and priority booking for formal training courses. In addition members can attend the monthly ACSP lunchtime seminars free of charge.
To mark its 10th Anniversary, the ACSP will be holding a lunch on Thursday 25th June at the Sefton Hotel, at which Garry Herbert, former Olympic gold medalist (and now a member of Goldman Sachs London’s wealth management team), will be guest speaker.
For details of this, the BakerPlatt training programme and all other ACSP enquiries, Antonia King is the first point of contact.
Telephone (01624) 830253 or email aking@acsp.co.im.
