The chairman of Jersey Finance, Robert Christensen MBE, has been sworn in as a jurat of Jersey’s Royal Court.

The office of jurat is considered the highest elected position to which a citizen can be appointed. Alongside the Bailiff as presiding judge, Jersey’s 12 jurats constitute the Island’s Royal Court and are judges of fact, rather than law, although they preside over land conveyances and liquor licensing.

Jurat Christensen commented: “As a jurat, my role has the potential from time to time to create conflicts with my position as chairman of Jersey Finance. Accordingly, I have given notice of my decision to retire as chairman as soon as a suitable successor has been identified and appointed, a process which has already started. 

He continued: “I feel privileged to have served as chairman during the past four years, and as a director between 2000 and 2008. I have always been impressed by the efforts made by the Jersey Finance team led by Geoff in pursuing the agenda set by the board and it has been my pleasure to support them over the years. I am confident that through their efforts the organisation will continue to provide the very best representation of the Island’s finance and related professional services sector.”

Jersey Finance chief executive Geoff Cook added: “On behalf of our members I want to thank Robert for his outstanding contribution to Jersey Finance and to our industry. He was part of the working group which established Jersey Finance and he was a director at our inception. He is stepping down as chairman for a role in which we wish him every success.”