Colin Powell

Geoffrey Colin Powell (17 September 1937 – 13 May 2019) was a British economist who was influential in the development of the financial services industry in Jersey. Powell's Economic Survey of Jersey was published in 1971 and helped recommend the diversification of the economy of Jersey away from agriculture and tourism towards financial services. Powell served as an Economic Adviser to the Jersey government between 1969 and 1992. Biography Powell was born in 1937 to Eric and Kate Powell and was educated at Wallington County Grammar School in Sutton, South London. He graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge with a first class degree in Economics in 1961. Powell married Jennifer Mary Catt in 1962, the couple had three daughters. Powell was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1995 and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005 for 'services to Financial Regulation and to the community in Jersey'. Powell was the chair of the Jersey Child Care Trust from 2001 to 2012 and an honorary member of the honorary member of the NSPCC Council. Powell was a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International. In 2013, Powell was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Institute of Directors of Jersey. Outside of Jersey, Powell served as the Chairman of the Group of International Finance Centre Supervisors (formerly the Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors) from 1981 to 2011. Powell served on the Financial Action Task Force on combating terrorist financing and money laundering and was additionally co-leader of two Financial Action Task Force groups on money laundering and human trafficking and the abuse of corporate vehicles. Powell was Chair of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's Cross-border Banking Working Group of the Bank for International Settlements in the 1980s. Powell worked as Vice Chair of an OECD Peer Review Group that developed international standards for exchange of information for tax purposes. A portrait of Powell, painted by Jason Butler, is in the collection of the Jersey Museum and Art Gallery. It was commissioned by Jersey Heritage. Powell died in May 2019, his funeral took place at the Parish Church of St Helier. A tribute was paid to Powell at the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information in Paris in 2019. A series of memorial lectures were planned in Jersey in tribute to Powell.