In this episode of The Connector Podcast recorded live at the DFS Digital Finance Summit in Brussels, host Koen Vanderhoydonk interviews Aaron, a representative of Digital Jersey, the government‑backed agency tasked with expanding Jersey’s technology ecosystem beyond traditional finance. Aaron explains how Jersey leverages world‑class digital infrastructure – 1 Gbps fibre to every premise and a fully deployed 5G network – to attract and nurture fintech, med‑tech, and biotech firms. He showcases several home‑grown companies: Moneybrain, which has launched a decentralized digital currency and the island’s first digital pound (a stable‑coin‑based CBDC offering ultra‑low transaction fees); Dazium, a software platform that automates domicile‑and‑tax‑residency compliance for high‑net‑worth individuals; Flink, a cash‑management and onboarding solution for wealth‑management and trust firms; and EasyA/EZA, a Duolingo‑style learning platform and accelerator for Web3 and blockchain startups that also provides talent pipelines and equity stakes. Aaron clarifies Jersey’s unique political status as a Crown Dependency – self‑governed, not part of the UK or EU, with its own GDPR‑equivalent data rules and a strong compliance reputation (ranked 7th globally). He highlights the island’s attractive tax regime (zero corporate tax, low personal rates) and the agility of its regulators, which enables rapid dialogue for fintech firms. The conversation concludes with a candid discussion of challenges: a talent shortage due to the lack of a local university, high cost of living driving brain‑drain, and the need to attract and retain skilled professionals, while noting that remote work mitigates some of these issues. Overall, the podcast paints Jersey as a highly connected, well‑regulated, and supportive environment for fintech innovation, while acknowledging the human‑capital hurdles it must overcome.
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Welcome to the Connector Podcast, an ongoing conversation connecting fintechs, banks, and regulators worldwide. Join CEO and founder Cohen van der Huydonk as you learn more about the latest available trends and solutions in the markets.
Welcome to another podcast here live at DFS in Brussels, and with me I've got Aaron. all the way from Jersey representing Digital Jersey.
Yes.
You have to enlighten us. What do you guys do?
Yes. So, well, firstly, thank you for inviting us here in Brussels.
Pleasure.
It's our first time here and hope one of many. And that leads on to Digital Jersey. So we are a government-backed agency and role and responsibilities are to grow an alternative ecosystem that's not just reliant on finance where, You know, we can then go into regulatory, fintech, medtech, biotech, basically being the representation against traditional finance firms and then growing that ecosystem. And we do that through a number of different ways, and that's through training and development. And we have our own holistic Digital Jersey Academy away from normal education. We do inward investment, so we look for some of the best companies across the world and go, Have you thought about Jersey? Is that a place you'd want to register your business and then grow? And the reasons for that is because we are actually one of the most technology advanced in terms of our infrastructure in the world. Got 1 gig fibre to every single premise.
Wow.
Up and down. We are one of only a few nations to actually fully deploy a 5G network. You might see 5G.
A real 5G network.
A real 5G. Yeah. There's 2 5Gs. You've got the kind of like the software upgrade, which will give you the speeds. And then you've then got, you know, standardized ones where it's a complete rip out of the network. And a government, it doesn't sound like a lot, but for the size of us, we've just spent £80 million on a new 5G network. So fastest internet in the world officially, and now got a 5G network to do that. So when you're a technology firm, especially when you're starting out or growing and getting into a world of AI and data, you need quick, fast network so it's not got contention. And we're number one.
And I guess, Aaron, you're not alone. That's probably the nature of the beast.
Yeah.
So you're here with a lot of companies and colleagues, I saw. So who did you bring to Brussels?
Yeah, we, um, we've brought a few delegates with us. Um, I'll start off with Moneybrain. Um, Moneybrain is, um, a digital currency business. Um, and what they're specializing there is almost like decentralization of traditional banking. and how you and I can then have access to fairer consumer rates. So for example, Bank of England might be charging nearly 6% on their interest rates. Moneybrain are completely decentralized from that. And although they have traditional banking methods, they'll use crypto or stablecoin. So you and I, without being crypto enthusiasts, can suddenly then have a token And it's then been backed by real-world assets. So very similar to how a traditional bank does, money's then backed by gold and bullion, but this is truly digital. And because it's decentralized, they can control the interest rates and the fees that they pay. So it's then bringing money back to the consumer and more control. So you can get digital mortgages at a better rate than your traditional banks. You can have loans and things like that that's happening. One of the other things that Moneybrain does as well is, it's not been officially announced, is they're now creating Jersey's first digital bank. And that's after a successful rollout of a digital pound. And why the digital pound is important is it's not only keeping sovereignty of local spending, but as a retailer, someone selling products, and you decide to use the Moneybrain digital pound, Apple can charge up to 3% for that transaction cost. Moneybrain, the digital pound, 0.01%. So it's power back to the retailer. Yeah. So it's, again, it's about making sure that it's fairer access to money for everybody.
Aaron, what you're saying is that this is the first CBDC then?
Yes.
Actually live?
And Moneybrain was also one of the first because of a deregulated environment where they were able to actually create the first stablecoin. Now, there has been another claim of stablecoin, but actually this can be accessed from, you know, from outside. You create a stablecoin and it's only accessed from internal of that institution. That's not real access to money. You can download the Moneybrain app now, buy a stablecoin, and then spend that how you wish. They're one of the first to do it in the world.
Wow. It sounds like I have to invite you again for some more podcasts, maybe around this topic alone. And that was one company. Are there any others as well?
Yep. So this is another one we're really excited about, and they come second in the Slush event in Helsinki a few weeks back. This is called Dazium. They are a fintech startup, and the idea there is that it's about understanding where your DOMCEL requirements are. And if you're a man or a lady of certain wealth, know, and your multiple jurisdictions, regulations saying you can only maybe stay maybe a maximum 183 days, 185 days in that country, and you have to move again. That becomes a real bugbear in terms of administration. Now, you might outsource that to an accountancy firm, or you might do it yourself. This is complete software.
Very complicated.
Plug into your, into your travel applications and your, and your bookings, and it will systematically track when you're in the air, because that's timeout. If you're traveling, that doesn't count as your time. So it's maximizing on the time that you're allowed in those jurisdictions and then giving you an evidence-based approach of where you were and when you was, all done through software. So it's again minimizing the admin burden, whether that's through an accountancy firm or you doing it yourself.
And, and did the need for developing this— had, had this to do with the fact that you're Jersey-based?
It's helped in Jersey because of the tax regulations there, like zero corporation tax, inheritance tax, and low taxes for an individual as a business. When you compare that to Europe, I mean, your highest rate of tax in Jersey will be 20%. So if Tim wanted to set that business up in Europe, you know, he's having to pay around the 40-plus. So having the tax efficiencies there. And then when you're going to start a business that's then tracking wealth management and where you're residing for a period of time, Jersey has a number of high net worths. So it become a great place naturally to kind of incubate it.
So twofold actually.
Yeah. But it's truly global, it's software, so it has no borders. But it was incubated in Jersey and we hope that the European market can adopt that, the US and the Middle East and so forth.
And I think it's very relevant for the time that we're living.
Absolutely. Yeah.
Was there any other companies?
Yeah. So another organization that we brought over with us is Toby's startup called Flink. Toby's background has always been around, around banking, you know, not necessarily the retail part, but the private banking and wealth management. And he saw a gap in the market where, okay, if you're going to be opening up accounts with cash management, etc., that can be quite laborious. So he's got a software now that will be able to facilitate the cash management and the onboarding of that, and then be able to— that's not for the consumer, that would be more towards trust and fiduciary businesses being able to use that software to give a better user experience and onboarding for the wealth clients that they may be supporting.
And again, not strange to have that in Jersey because I believe there's a lot of trust companies in Jersey.
Yes, there is. There's a lot of trust companies, fiduciary and wealth management in Jersey. But the good news with Jersey is that most of those are multi-jurisdictional. So Tim's product is not just for the local market. It's actually got a lot of prevalence within the EU and further afield. So it's a good opportunity there for a disruptor in traditional onboarding of wealth management. And then more importantly, user experience and affordability.
Yeah, cool. Can you maybe explain us a little bit, because where does Jersey actually belong? Is it part of the UK? Is it part of the Brexit scenario? Is it part of the European Union? How does that work?
Jersey's very unique. So we are, although we are classed as a Crown Dependency, Jersey will be reliant on the UK for armed forces, but we are completely separate. So we're not part of the EU, We are not officially part of the UK despite the Crown dependency. So we're 100% self-governed. So we have our own rules, we have our own regulations. And one of the things we spoke about in this morning's first session around data and regulation was, is, well, does that make Jersey a place where it's regulated, you know, it's decentralized regulation? Is it a place where you avoid regulation? Absolutely not. We conform to other countries' data. We have our own annexes. So we've got GDPR equivalent in Jersey, for example. And that's an annex from the European ones there. And because of the global organizations that reside in Jersey as well, we have to conform to global policy. And we're really, really proud that we have just finished a MoneyVal compliance thing around financial regulation, anti-money laundering, et cetera. And we're now voted 7th in the world for compliance and regulation monetization.
I'm not surprised.
Yeah. So one of the first things we said about some of our European cousins were, oh, Jersey, oh, it's, you know, tax avoidance, X, Y, and Z.
It's actually the opposite.
It's very highly regulated. But because we're so intimate and we are still classed as separate, it just means that we are— we have better access to our government, better access to our regulators. So we're hearing from a lot of the challenges that that our European cousins are having today around being able to conform to so much regulation around fintech. Jersey has those problems, but because we're such a small jurisdiction, we can phone up the regulator tomorrow and probably set up a business meeting where we can facilitate conversations and cut through red tape quite quickly. And I don't— that's quite unique to Jersey. I don't think anyone in this room could probably phone up the European Commission and ask, can we have a discussion on policy, please?
Not really. Not really.
Yeah, they probably need to put a timestamp in of going, I've made the inquiry, what time can you get back to me please?
If you already find the right person to talk to.
Yeah, we don't have those sort of problems in Jersey. We, um, yeah, it's intimate in a polite way. Um, you can have access to a lot of people.
Yeah, yeah, it sounds very exciting actually. Um, were there any other companies that you brought or was it—
They were just the 3. Um, yeah, so we are looking to, um, you know, make this more of a recurrence, um, Jersey. Um, I mean, I do a lot of the inward investment, so next year we'll probably want to— you know, one of the companies I'd like to introduce is EasyA, and that's like the Duolingo, uh, but for fintech and Web3 and blockchain companies. So, um, what they do there is that you and I can log on to an application and learn basic coding and principles around blockchain analysis, coding Python, things like that. And then outside of that Um, EZA then also, um, go and work with small and medium-sized, um, startups, um, around the Web3 and blockchain companies where they don't necessarily have the internal staffing structure to have developers. They're expensive, but they're worth their weight in gold. We appreciate that. So they then do alumni management with some of the, uh, some of the best universities in the world, including Harvard. Um, and then they go to task so that small or medium-sized startup that they're helping will go, right, we need this. It's not necessarily the first person that's going to, uh, to, to finish the competition. It's those that are able to audit their findings and get us there. The winner will then get a grand prize, you know, several hundred thousand. Um, that company then has the IP to allow them to grow to the next stage, and then ECA hold a minimal holding stake in that. So it helps feed that ecosystem between talent drain need development.
Wow.
And then brand exposure. So watch this space on EZA, they're coming to Brussels next year.
Ah, excellent. I hold you on that. I'm holding that. Um, well, nice things come to an end very quickly usually, so we're almost at the end of this conversation. Um, but there's a lot of nice things you talked about, Jersey, but what I'm interested is, is to understand what maybe are your biggest challenges in terms of fintech and digitalization and so on?
Despite all the wonderful ecosystem and the ability to, to get in front of regulators and government, our biggest challenges are very, very similar to the global challenges we have, but it's maximized in Jersey. So challenge number one is talent. Rightly or wrongly, we don't have a university on island. And if you're born in a small rock on the Atlantic, you're naturally going to get cabin fever, and young people might want to, you know, flock the nest and go and experience the rest of the world. Why wouldn't you? But there has to be a reason to care to come back.
Yeah.
Um, so once you've experienced different cultures and educated yourself off island, Jersey is a very expensive place to live despite the tax efficiencies, cost of property, etc. So until you become a middle earner, Jersey can be very unfriendly in terms of cost of living. So we have a brain drain. So our best young talents leave the islands and we have to find ways of attracting them back. And then when you want continued personal development, we don't necessarily have the traditional learning infrastructure available to us.
Yeah.
So that's one of our biggest challenges there. And then obviously then that then leads on to, you know, the bigger firms wanting, you know, real good technical people on islands. We just simply don't have that. Yeah, so we have to look at outsourcing all the time, which, but since COVID that's proved that you could work anywhere in the world. That's okay. You can still be as productive. So I'd like to turn that on a flip side. You don't necessarily have to be boots on the ground in Jersey to work for Jersey.
Ooh, that's a nice ending actually. Aaron, thank you so much for having you. It was an interesting conversation and I personally also learned a lot. So thank you for that.
Again, thank you for having us. And we are really looking forward to the rest of the day.
Like I am. And thank you also to the audience. Please stay tuned. More fintech news on the channel. Thank you very much.
Thanks for listening to another episode of The Connector Podcast. To connect and keep up to date with all the latest, head over to www.jointheconnector.com or hit subscribe via your podcast streaming platform.
