Cayman jumps up ranks in financial centre index
(CNS): The Cayman Islands has jumped up eleven places in this year’s first edition of The Global Financial Centres Index. The biannual report rates and then ranks over 100 cities and jurisdictions that offer financial services, and Cayman is now the highest ranked centre in the Caribbean, with a rating of over 700 points, leapfrogging Bermuda, which was ahead of Cayman in the last issue, making this jurisdiction the highest ranked non-G20 centre on the list.
The improvement for Cayman of nine places over the September 2017 edition was the highest for all British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. All centres in the Latin American and Caribbean region fell in the ratings except for the Cayman Islands.
Cayman Finance CEO Jude Scott welcomed the significant showing for Cayman on the index.
“The GFCI 23 ranking shows that the more financial services industry and government leaders learn about the Cayman Islands, the higher they rate our jurisdiction among the world’s financial centres,” he said. “We have spent the last year engaged in an unprecedented effort to define our long-standing commitment to serve as a premier global financial hub that meets or exceeds the highest global standards for transparency and cross-border information sharing and our improvement in the GFCI ranking is a reflection of the success of that effort.”
The listing is published in London, which has always been ranked first, with New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Shanghai traditionally dominating the top five. The authors examine the business environment, access to human capital, infrastructure, financial sector development and the reputation of each of the centres. Cayman was profiled as an international specialist jurisdiction and a dynamic centre, while Bermuda was described as volatile.
The index covers a comprehensive assessment of more than a hundred factors, taking information from over 23,000 people in the financial industry as well as organisations such as the World Bank, the OECD and the United Nations.
“The Cayman Islands financial services industry remains focused on the kind of innovation and commitment to global standards that has helped us achieve this kind of success,” said Scott.
See the full report here
Category: Local News
In other words, ranked higher in the ways you you hide your money from taxation.
Nothing really to be proud of.
Hater.
absolute donkey; check Delaware, Nevada and London you muppet. while you are at it learn about FATCA and CRS you special little dimwit.
I’m sorry, but most of the people here don’t understand how a bank operates. I know it’s inconvenient that you have to wait a half an hour to see a teller. Would you rather they make a mistake? You need to understand how much scrutiny they are under as a company and how heavily they are regulated.
We are talking about money people, not ordering a pizza!
There are only a handful of reasons you need to go to a teller. The problem is that most people don’t know what they can do at a machine or online. Do yourself a favor and learn!
In many other places, including one I lived in, I did absolutely everything on the internet. No cheques, no hassle, cheap fees, everything takes a day or less if local transfers. The only time I went to the bank was to pick up a new credit card. Can you imagine how much time, money, traffic, energy, nerves could be saved if we did that here?
For All and to All Ignorant people writing in to this blog. Listen up nah!.
The Banks are working on an Automated Clearing House system which will allow immediate clearing of funds if dey good. So ona wait nah, and for ona who like to hate just shut ya trap/ sene. Jahhh Raaastafari
This is great news that our great Premier and the rest of the Unity teams hard work is paying off! Wait till the Chinese and Russian dollars start pouring in, we will be flush with cash. Thank you Mr. Premier and the Unity team!
Yawn. Let me know when we can receive payments through PayPal… that will impress me. Highest rated financial center in the Caribbean yet even Jamaica can send AND recieve fund through PayPal.
This is a clear example of what is wrong with Cayman. While the elite government lobbying mostly foreign keep getting rich, the locals see very little of the benefits and the trickle down is now a drip. We will soon be a nation of rich and poor! The division of resources is not equal, just look at the Government boards and see the handful of Caymanians who are benefiting as payment for their political loyalty. If you are not in the club dog eat your dinner breakfast and lunch! Well done PPM and UDP united for who ?
Your mediocrity is not our problem. Stop trying to freeload.
Thousands of Caymanians who are very well employed in the financial services industry rely on the success of that industry for continuous prosperity. There is enormous trickle down effect. If our financial services industry shrunk, where would they be employed and what type of standard of living would they enjoy if they were employed outside the financial services industry? Their standard of living would be dramatically different.
That isn’t the reality! Take it from a Caymanian who worked as an Executive Manger in the industry for years. I saw so many Caymanians discriminated against and held back and it was like walking through a brick wall trying to get their efforts and contribution recognized by the foreign higher ups! I eventually left (was forced out) disgusted and frustrated.
I regret to say I have seen many fail because of their belief that they should have the position you claim to have held, but just didn’t have what it needs to do the job. Likewise I have seen quite a few with guts, intelligence and determination make it to senior or top levels. It’s like everywhere else, only 20% of any given population is going to make it through, the rest will never achieve those kind of levels. The law firms, big accounting firms take the brightest from school and pay for their education. The rest…I think you know
You’ve missed the point of 12:30’s comment.
And we have to pay $7:50 service charge to deposit a foreign check.
if you had any idea how much work was involved in depositing your foreign cheque, you wouldn’t complain about the cost. Most countries don’t clear foreign cheques, so you should consider yourself luck to do so.
Most countries are not as little and dependent on payments from people from other countries.
LOL, all this does is make us an even bigger target for tax regulators like IRS and HMRC. If you want to be in this kind of business low profile is always better.
“this kind of business”, seriously? The old days are gone, we are regulated up the yingyang and it gets worse every day…even more so than UK and much more so than US…that is why we are going up the list, whilst everyone else is going backwards.
If you believe this index then you will have to believe all other indices which show Cayman in a negative light.
But we still have to wait 3 business days for a local check to clear?!
The banks should talk to each other about agreeing internet banking between them at much better pricing than now and doing away with cheque books. Of course, cartel rules apply…so won’t happen soon.
Nonetheless a great achievement for Cayman.
Interbank transfers is being developed now.
The Cayman dollar is a huge challenge for local banks and the ever changing IT infrastructure makes their job even more difficult.
Think about what your cell phone did 10 years ago compared to now. Your biggest concern was your contacts and pictures. Imagine migrating a multi-billion dollar system without missing a beat.
I’m not saying they couldn’t improve their customer service, but appreciate how much work is going on behind the scenes.
Hogwash they have been working on this for over ten years with no progress, this is because the bank earns interest for itself on your funds while you are waiting for it to clear
No they aren’t. If you think the reason why it takes 3 days to clear a cheque is because the banks wants to keep your money is absolutely not true. The banks are protecting themselves. They want 3 days to make sure there isn’t a fraud.
If you are still depositing cheques you should blame whomever gave it to you. Your employer should do direct deposit and any of the major banks in Cayman are able to transfer money in minutes between accounts
BS.
Obviously, why would a bank trust that the person that gave you that check has money in their account?!
Local bank drafts are also held for clearing.
Why does it take them 3 days to find out???
Often 5 for me!
They are only good at taking money not giving it back…
and 20 minutes to see a teller.
To receive automated employer payroll and service ordinary monthly household debt (in the thousands) at another local institution, we are made to wait 5 inexplicable business days on a local bank-to-local bank draft drawn in name of same joint beneficiaries. Only way to avoid it this is to physically withdraw a Scarface-esque block of USD cash in $20 bills, put it in a sack, and march it across the road. Neither bank seems fussed by these large monthly cash withdrawal and deposit activities, and seem to encourage them through these “hold” policies. With high volume bill counter machines at every teller station, these seem to be a normalised part of retail bank operations in the Cayman Islands. Whereas, anywhere else in the world they might and ought to be flagged as SARs. We are over two decades behind the rest of the world in bank-to-bank e-transfer technology.
AND….people being robbed of their shoes!
Cayman is very backward!
Who is the robber of the shoes? Sometimes I wish that it was going alittle backward then the likes like you would have to go else where to make a living.
4. Its 4 days.
Stood for 40 minutes in large bank yesterday to do a simple deposit , 5 tellers on deck on a busy day , at midday .
If it’s a simple deposit put it in the ATM, takes a minute or two.
What’s a check? Cryptocurrency is instant, get with the times!
ACH went live last week between the banks. Once they iron out the kinks they will roll it out to all clients. This means interbank payments in real time. Problem solved
I have coworkers whose salaries clear before mine and my bank account is in the same bank that said salary comes from…..absurdian