Football club founder banned by finance regulator

Steve Dewsnip is commercial director of Stalybridge Celtic and co-founded Guernsey FC

One of the co-founders of Guernsey FC has been banned by the island's financial regulator from any involvement in regulated companies, following his involvement in a fraudulent investment fund which collapsed in 2016.

The club's former chairman Steve Dewsnip, 57, who is now commercial director of Northern Premier League side Stalybridge Celtic, was banned by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) for "failure to meet the minimum criteria for licensing".

The ban means Mr Dewsnip will not be able to perform any function for Guernsey-based regulated companies such as investment funds, insurance firms or banks - but is not prevented from performing his current role.

Greater Manchester-based Stalybridge said it was aware of the matter and had "full confidence" in Mr Dewsnip, adding it felt the ban had "no bearing on his ability" to do his job. Mr Dewsnip declined to comment after the BBC approached him.

Paul Bowden, the club's finance and operations director, said: "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 said Mr Dewsnip, who is not on its board, had maintained "full transparency" and the club had "financial procedures" in place to ensure its business was protected.

A spokesman for Guernsey FC said Mr Dewsnip was "no longer affiliated" with the club and had "not had any involvement" since he stepped down in 2016.

Previous fine

Mr Dewsnip was fined £7,000 by GFSC in 2020 for failing to ensure effective control systems were implemented when he was a non-executive director of Global Insurance Group, which the commission said had put policyholders' claims and Guernsey's reputation as an international finance centre at risk.

He was previously a director of the Providence Investment Fund, a fraudulent investment fund that collapsed in 2016, leaving investors around the world millions of pounds out of pocket.

More than £37m was invested in the fund by people in Guernsey and Jersey alone, including some people's life savings.

Providence claimed to use investors' money to buy up debt from Brazilian firms, but at one stage 97% of it did not reach Brazil, according to court papers, with the majority going instead to Providence Global Limited, a Guernsey company.

A spokesperson for GFSC said it was "unable to comment further" on Mr Dewsnip's ban.

In its prohibition notice, the commission said it had decided to "prohibit Mr Stephen Paul Dewsnip from performing any function on behalf of a regulated entity".

The sanction was "as a result of his failure to meet the minimum criteria for licensing", it added.