OVER the last three days, the JEP has probed the Jersey Financial Services Commission and the dysfunctional relationship that it has with the industry it is supposed to regulate.

We’ve heard from dozens of people who have had their lives ruined by an enforcement system that acts as judge, jury and executioner, and from one of the only individuals in island life who has taken on the JFSC and won, Advocate Olaf Blakely.

Since our reporting began we’ve been contacted by many more people who have 

had similar experiences with the JFSC, and hoping that this newspaper will keep up the pressure on the regulator to be what the industry needs it to be: a critical friend, a resource, not an enemy.So what does the JEP want to achieve with this investigation? Well, first we want to highlight an injustice that has been done to a number of people on this island due to a vindictive and unfair enforcement process.

We would urge the government to consider introducing a formal right of appeal – as in other jurisdictions – that does not involve recourse to the Royal Court, a process beyond the means of most. Until this is in place, the public statement system of naming and shaming should be halted.

Secondly, we would urge the government to finally enact a decade-old decision by the States to add the JFSC to the Freedom of Information Act so that people – including the media – can obtain information about what it is doing and why.

This is the case in the UK with the Financial Conduct Authority and there is no reason that it couldn’t be the case here.

Thirdly, the JFSC needs to accept that it is deeply unpopular and take responsibility for the role it has played in fostering that. As Advocate Blakely said earlier this week: “If I was a regulator, I would want to be liked by the people I regulate.”

It is time for the JFSC to re-engage with the industry that pays for it – and needs it.