Minister lobbies US officials

| 18/07/2019 | 15 Comments
Cayman News Service
Minister Tara Rivers with Justin Muzinich, deputy secretary of the US Treasury

(CNS): Financial Services Minister Tara Rivers continued her efforts to “dispel harmful myths about the Cayman Islands” last week with another trip to Washington DC. Rivers met with Justin Muzinich, the deputy secretary of the US Treasury, as well as US senators, members of Congress, senior Congressional staff, and other federal agency officials to lobby for Cayman’s offshore sector and the leadership role she said Cayman is taking to combat money laundering and ensure tax transparency.

The Cayman Islands received a damning evaluation from the CFATF recently and the minister has begun implementing a new batch of legislation to meet the recommendations made in the report on how Cayman should reduce its risk and vulnerabilities. But Rivers said she was in the capital of the United States to engage with decision-makers there about the “longstanding beneficial relationship in financial services between the US and Cayman” and to push “Cayman’s culture of transparency and regulatory compliance”.

Rivers also claimed that she “provided valuable information to US lawmakers regarding Cayman’s strong beneficial ownership identification regime” as Congress considers legislation for new beneficial ownership collection requirements in the US.

“These meetings are critical in explaining to US lawmakers the facts about Cayman’s financial services industry, and the significant and effective role Cayman plays in the fight against money laundering and other financial crimes,” Rivers said in a release about her latest trip.

“We also offered the US Congress and US Treasury the benefit of our experience in implementing beneficial ownership laws, should they take the next step in corporate compliance by making disclosure of company ownership to the US government mandatory,” she added.

Cayman works closely with the United States to share information to prevent tax evasion, money laundering and terrorist financing, and she assured lawmakers in Washington DC that Cayman cooperates with the US Treasury and Internal Revenue Service so that those doing business in Cayman are compliant with American laws.

Rivers and her delegation met with Senator Tim Scott, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee’s Financial Institutions Subcommittee, and member of the Senate Finance Committee to discuss Cayman’s adoption and enforcement of international standards for tax transparency and anti-money laundering.

They also met Rep. Gregory Meeks, Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions, who, alongside Scott, is responsible for laws regulating US banks, investment firms and credit unions.

Rep. Yvette Clarke, Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on the Caribbean, and senior staff members of Rep. Maxine Waters, Chairwoman for the House Financial Services Committee, senior Democratic and Republican staff members of the House Ways and Means Committee, and the Senate Finance Committee also met the Cayman team.

Along with the congressional outreach, the delegation took part in meetings with high-ranking officials from the US Department of State and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the primary regulator for the nationally chartered US bank.

“Through these meetings, we have taken significant steps to dispel harmful myths about the Cayman Islands,” said the minister. “Key legislators, congressional staff, and senior agency officials now have the information they need to combat persistent inaccurate stereotypes about our country. We plan on continuing to share this information as part of our ongoing education campaign to spread the word that Cayman is a leader in implementing global compliance standards; and thus, it is no coincidence that we are also a leader among international financial centres,” she added.

Accompanying Rivers on the trip were Department of Financial Services Policy and Legislation Director Michelle Bahadur, Department of Financial Services Policy and Legislation Senior Policy Analyst Rolna DaCosta, Cayman Islands Monetary Authority Managing Director Cindy Scotland and CIMA Senior Legal Counsel Angelina Partridge.

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Category: Business, Financial Services

Comments (15)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Interesting.

  2. Anonymous says:

    And that’s the best we have to represent? Scary

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  3. Anon says:

    Following JuJu’s precedent in New York, I bet they set aside a day for shopping.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Politicians seem to be traveling a lot lately…hope they are finally feeling some shame for selling cayman to the highest bidders.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Good job Tara, so proud of you!

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  6. Anonymous says:

    There is so much corruption in the Cayman Islands which starts directly with the politicians.

    Having a politician, who is quite nearly invisible in her role as MLA, traveling the world trying to convince other jurisdictions that Cayman is isn’t as bad as they believe it to be is hilarious.

    Ms. Rivers, begin fixing everything at home.

    Make Cayman a place where you don’t have to convince people that they have it all wrong.

    It’s that old adage, “Who are you trying to convince? Me or you?”

    The junkets are a complete waste of money until Cayman starts proving its inward health on a global scale.

    Inward health starts with all of the slimey, dicktator, greedy, palm greasing Politicians first; and you Ms. Rivers are one of those Politicians.

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  7. Sickofcorruption says:

    For the sake of every single resident etc please sombody get this lady outta there.
    Out of your dept dose not even describe it.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Senator Maxine Waters and Minister Rivers – enough said

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  9. Anonymous says:

    Blah, blah, blah – the US will do what it wants to do and Cayman cannot do anything about it period end of story. You can meet with US politicians and bureaucrats, they will welcome you, talk to you and even let you take a picture with them – that will be your highlight Minister Rivers – you are way way way out of your league in their company.

    Only person US may listen to is the Governor, otherwise it is FCO or UK.

    CNS this is a non-story. The sheer fact that Cayman is lacking so many laws just shows how slack we still are.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Hey there 8:22Pm why are so damn brutally honest – you would not make a good politician, straight and to the point you is.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    Politics and politicians are totally unnecessary to the wellbeing of the human race. Politicians cause war, politicians tax people and most importantly, they lie.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    You can bet they hit up the Bourbon Steak Restaurant in Georgetown. The junket wouldn’t be same if they didn’t.

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