Guernsey FC Co-founder Prohibited from Regulated Roles by Financial Watchdog

The financial regulatory body of Guernsey has prohibited a co-founder of Guernsey FC from participating in any regulated companies. This action stems from his connection to a fraudulent investment fund that failed in 2016. Steve Dewsnip, 57, formerly the club’s chairman and currently the commercial director for Northern Premier League team Stalybridge Celtic, received the ban from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC). The GFSC cited “failure to meet the minimum criteria for licensing” as the reason for the prohibition. This prohibition prevents Mr. Dewsnip from undertaking any duties for regulated entities based in Guernsey, including investment funds, insurance companies, or banks. However, it does not impede him from continuing in his present position. Stalybridge, located in Greater Manchester, stated its awareness of the situation and expressed “full confidence” in Mr. Dewsnip. The club further added its belief that the ban possessed “no bearing on his ability” to execute his responsibilities. Mr. Dewsnip chose not to provide a comment when contacted by the BBC. Paul Bowden, the club’s finance and operations director, commented: “In the six months that Steve has been at the club he has played a vital role in reshaping our commercial offering, as well as bringing experience and knowledge that the club was lacking.” The club indicated that Mr. Dewsnip, who is not a member of its board, had upheld “full transparency,” and that the club had established “financial procedures” to safeguard its operations. A spokesperson for Guernsey FC confirmed that Mr. Dewsnip was “no longer affiliated” with the club and had “not had any involvement” since his resignation in 2016. In 2020, the GFSC imposed a £7,000 fine on Mr. Dewsnip for his failure to guarantee the implementation of effective control systems during his tenure as a non-executive director of Global Insurance Group. The commission asserted that this failure jeopardized policyholders’ claims and Guernsey’s standing as an international finance center. He had previously served as a director for the Providence Investment Fund, an illicit investment scheme that collapsed in 2016, resulting in investors globally losing millions of pounds. Individuals in Guernsey and Jersey alone invested over £37m into the fund, a sum that included some people’s life savings. Providence asserted that it utilized investors’ capital to acquire debt from Brazilian companies. However, court documents reveal that at one point, 97% of these funds did not reach Brazil, with most of it instead directed to Providence Global Limited, a Guernsey-based firm. A GFSC spokesperson stated the commission was “unable to comment further” regarding Mr. Dewsnip’s prohibition. Within its official prohibition notice, the commission declared its decision to “prohibit Mr Stephen Paul Dewsnip from performing any function on behalf of a regulated entity”. The commission further noted that the sanction was “as a result of his failure to meet the minimum criteria for licensing”.