The Ministry for Financial Services has confirmed that James Tipping, the CEO of Gibraltar Finance will be retiring from his post on the 15th of June. 

Mr Tipping has agreed to continue to provide advice and guidance to the Ministry on very specific matters for up to a further year on an unremunerated basis. This advice will centre principally on the implementation of the Gibraltar Authorisation Regime (GAR) with HM Treasury in the United Kingdom and other International stakeholders including MoneyVal.

James has been in post for over two decades and his role has varied over this period as the circumstances have required. From negotiating and agreeing tax information agreements with many countries to working with the OECD in their reviews of Gibraltar’s effectiveness in exchange of information, to FATF, to the Global Forum and consistently working closely with HM Treasury and the Foreign Office in all matters relating to exchange of information, transparency, and critically in recent years on GAR, our access to the UK financial services market.

James has also driven the efforts of Gibraltar Finance, hand in hand with the private sector in all of its business development efforts around the world including the key “Gibraltar Days” in London, Switzerland and Asia. The monthly meetings with the Finance Centre Council have also helped to shape the industry, and indeed the Financial Services Act of 2019 which consolidated and modernized our legislation.

James has worked with five different Ministers with responsibility for Financial Services and was originally appointed under the stewardship of Peter Montegriffo KC during his tenure.

The Hon Albert Isola, Minister with responsibility for Financial Services said, “I had never appreciated just how understated Jimmy was until I started working with him. We have been very fortunate to have him with us for this period of time. He has been quite brilliant in representing us with international stakeholders and has always been brutally honest and fair. He has been an excellent servant of our financial services industry. I know he will be missed by the sector and I will certainly miss his frank and open counsel and the benefit of his acute intelligence, knowledge and expertise in all matters financial services. In testing times, and there have been plenty, his calm and assuring manner have been most welcome and valuable. "

James Tipping said, “As a proud Gibraltarian it has been an honour and a privilege to serve successive Governments in Gibraltar. When I first took up this post I mentioned that I wanted to ‘give something back’. I would like to think that I have done so, at least in part, but that is for others to judge. Some may be unaware that I originally came from a commercial background namely capital markets investment banking in London, Latin America and New York. As such I have tried to ensure that the Finance Centre Department maintained as much of a commercial outlook as possible. I would like to thank everyone that I have worked with for their support over many years and in particular, Albert Isola and my team at Gibraltar Finance to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude."

The Ministry for Financial Services also confirms that succession planning is in train, and further announcements will be made shortly in this regard.

ENDS