Sheedy will work with fellow business development director in the GCC Richard Nunn to enhance coverage of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the UAE markets.

The GCC market is important for Jersey, with the jurisdiction custodian to £100 billion ($122.4 billion) of assets from the GCC region, according to Geoff Cook, chief executive of Jersey Finance.

Sheedy has more than 25 years’ experience in financial services and has lived and worked in the UAE for the past 13 years. He has held senior posts at Invesco Asset Management and Fidelity International. He was most recently senior executive officer at Royal Bank of Canada, where he was responsible for sovereign wealth funds. Before this, he worked for five years for Bank of Ireland Asset management, based in Jersey.

Jersey Finance has had a permanent presence in the Middle East since opening a regional office in the UAE in 2011.