Surge in Channel Islands bank deposits

The latest figures released by GuernseyFinance and Jersey Finance show the islands' banks are booming. In Guernsey, the banks reached record deposit levels of £89.37bn at the end of September 2006, up 15% over the year, and up £110m over the previous quarter. Over the same period, Jersey posted an increase in bank deposits to £187.6bn, an upturn following a fall in the level of deposits in the previous quarter. Peter Niven, chief executive of GuernseyFinance, said: "This is good news. The growth during the quarter was only marginal but came on the back of sustained increases during the p...