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Profile
Continued from p24
During six years at Customs he came to yearn for something different to a general counsel type of role and did various secondments to gain broader experience, including eight months in the NZ Parliamentary Counsel office, (similar to a the Government Law Office locally), where he was Director of Access to Legislation. Leaning more towards developing in executive management, he considered what next to do.
Taylor’s engaging smile, laid back style and slight NZ twang gives no hint of his having been born in Rugby, schooled in Leamington Spa, and living in Coventry - (“I saw my home soccer team win the FA Cup final at Wembley in 1987”). His parents movedtoNZwhenhewasaged16andasa result, “I’m more of a rugby fan having been indoctrinated into supporting the All Blacks and the Hurricanes Super Rugby team.”
Currently, the GFSC has some ten legal cases in different stages – some much bigger than others – and Taylor’s executive challenge is adequately resourcing the enforcement team. Initially with a team of three, it’s now up to five. “There is difficulty in finding and
attracting people locally with the right regulatory enforcement experience; even with our current staff it is a case of utilising their transferrable skills, and we now have a couple of people with litigation experience – used to dealing with cases, managing evidence.”
However, he’s sanguine: “There are always challenges and you work with what you have got. Some of the things that could be seen as frustrations are when you come from a large organisation to a small one - do you have the level of support - and you have to come to terms with how you operate.”
Greater capability
Creation of an enforcement team and strategy was progressing prior to Taylor’s appointment. “I couldn’t claim credit for there being more cases since my arrival – some are quite coincidental - but there is a greater capability now within the organisation allow- ing it not to be as tolerant as previously, and to address various issues.
“There’s a change in the organisation being very, very clear as to what you let in; the authorisations approach has become more capable in the assessment of applicants and
Taylor’s laid back style from New Zealand
“We recovered a significant amount of excise duty in 2012 for the government, from a smaller-sized petrol company mixing its fuel – colloquially known as watering down the product - and trying to avoid tax liability on higher graded fuel”, he illustrates.
26 Gibraltar International
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