Grant Thornton Channel Islands has had a strong start to 2026 in the forensic investigations space, reflecting a broader industry-wide surge in demand for specialist forensic expertise across international financial centres.
Global economic uncertainty, evolving regulatory expectations, and increasingly complex cross-border structures are placing greater scrutiny on financial integrity at every level. Forensic accounting and dispute advisory services have seen sustained growth globally; the ACFE's 2026 Report to the Nations estimated global fraud losses at $3.4 trillion annually, representing approximately 5% of revenues. Closer to home, the Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman 2025 Annual Report, released last month, stated that financial fraud was “…the most significant issue we have dealt with so far this decade”.
This highlights why jurisdictions like Guernsey and Jersey are seeing rising demand for robust investigative capability.
What We've Been Working On
In H1 2026, Grant Thornton Channel Islands' Recovery, Reorganisation & Forensics team have worked across a diverse range of assignments spanning both islands. These included:
- Family and shareholder disputes involving representations and warranties, where forensic analysis was used to examine whether financial positions had been accurately represented at the time of transactions
- Historical financial reconstruction, with meticulous work tracing financial positions across extended time periods, often where records are incomplete, inconsistent, or contested
- Ledger gap analysis and group-level reporting anomalies, requiring forensic scrutiny of consolidated accounts where irregularities pointed to deeper structural or governance issues
- Fraud investigations into individuals, conducted with the discretion and rigour that fiduciary-focused jurisdictions demand
- Expert report preparation for live proceedings in Guernsey, including loss quantification analysis prepared to the standard required for use in court
This breadth of work illustrates a defining trend across international finance centres: forensic mandates are no longer confined to straightforward fraud cases. Today's engagements routinely sit at the intersection of complex financial structures, multi-jurisdictional assets, and contested legal proceedings.
Setting Precedent: Jakob International Inc vs HSBC Bank
Grant Thornton Channel Islands' expert witness capabilities have developed significantly in recent years, and their work has contributed to precedent-setting outcomes in the Guernsey Court.
A notable example is Jakob International Inc vs HSBC Bank, a case centred on a disputed frozen bank account in Guernsey and the fundamental question of whether the funds held within it were tainted.
Grant Thornton's forensic report, and assistance providing expert witness testimony, provided the Guernsey Court with a rigorous evidential framework for assessing source of funds over an extended historical period, spanning several jurisdictions. The Court took a pragmatic view, concluding that the funds should be released and that there were insufficient grounds to establish contamination. The case is a clear demonstration of how well-prepared expert evidence can be decisive, particularly where the passage of time complicates a straightforward paper trail. Similarly, Grant Thornton assisted the Guernsey Court as Experts on another provenance of funds matter, being Fidelity Management Limited vs HM Comptroller & Royal Bank of Canada (Channel Islands) Limited.
This capability sits within a broader context: source of funds and source of wealth analysis has become one of the most contested and technically demanding areas of financial forensics, driven by intensifying AML regulation across the Crown Dependencies and globally.
Additionally, aside from frozen funds cases, Grant Thornton have further assisted the Guernsey Court recently as experts on company valuation disputes.
Looking Ahead
Samuel Hilton, Senior Manager in the Grant Thornton Channel Islands Forensics team noted that:
“Continued strong demand across the forensic spectrum throughout the remainder of 2026 is anticipated. With regulators, courts, and counterparties all raising the bar on financial transparency and accountability, the value of having a forensically capable adviser embedded within a leading professional services network, with access to global Grant Thornton resources, has never been more evident.”
The team welcomes enquiries on forensic investigations, expert witness assignments, and dispute advisory mandates across both islands.
