Financial crime talking shop emerges from JMC

| 17/05/2023 | 19 Comments
At a JMC event (L-R) Premier Wayne Panton, Minister André Ebanks, Prince Edward and UKOT Minister Lord Goldsmith, Cayman News Service
At a JMC event, (L-R) Premier Wayne Panton, Minister André Ebanks, Prince Edward and UKOT Minister Lord Goldsmith

(CNS): Later this year, the British Virgin Islands will host the inaugural annual meeting between the United Kingdom and its overseas territories to discuss tackling illicit finance. This new “ministerial-level annual dialogue” emerged from this year’s UKOT Joint Ministerial Council meeting, held in London last week, and aims to defend financial systems against illicit actors, according to officials.

A communique issued after the JMC stated that the “dialogue” demonstrated an “enhanced commitment” by the UK Government and the territories to work together on the issue of financial crime.

“We will deepen our partnership to tackle shared illicit-finance threats,” the document said. “We continue to meet the highest international financial standards, including those set by the Financial Action Task Force and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Overseas Territories and the UK will continue to cooperate, including through technical forums on anti-money laundering, sanctions enforcement, counter-terrorist financing and foreign bribery.”

The Cayman Islands and Gibraltar are the only two overseas territories that remain on the FATF grey list, though, despite allegations that London continues to be a very high-risk jurisdiction for all types of financial crime, it has never been on any list.

Meanwhile, the Cayman Islands Ministry of Financial Services continues efforts to remove the jurisdiction from the FATF grey list. Officials remain hopeful that at its meeting in June, the FATF will signal that this will happen later this year.

While there are concerns about Cayman remaining on the FATF grey list, the communique also revealed the establishment of a technical working group on the issue of beneficial ownership transparency, an issue of even greater concern to the UK, where the offshore financial services world is seen as opaque.

The goal of this group, it was said, is to share expertise and consider issues surrounding the implementation of publicly accessible registers of company beneficial ownership that contain the necessary safeguards to protect the right to privacy.

During the week of the JMC, the local offshore advocacy body, Cayman Finance, partnered with the Ministry of Financial Services and Commerce to hold a discussion with stakeholders on the latest developments in Cayman’s finance sector.

Steve McIntosh, CEO of Cayman Finance, said the message they wanted to deliver was that, even in these challenging times for the global economy, the Cayman Islands continues to go from strength to strength as a financial centre. “But we will not rest on our laurels. The role of Cayman Finance is to help our private and public sector stakeholders to continue to improve our regulations, products and services and to find new ways to add value for our clients, investors and consumers all over the world.”

Financial Services Minister André Ebanks said the event was an opportunity for him to engage with long-standing clients, trusted service providers and well-respected stakeholders and to provide them with insights and the latest developments from a government perspective.


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Category: Business, Financial Services, Politics

Comments (19)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Aye, ok, magic. Fix the f***ing dump!

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  2. Cayman WARNING!!!! says:

    You can meet all you want LORD Goldsmith but if Cayman keeps installing and promoting those we now see now in leadership or decisions making positions and who are also poise to take leadership roles in Cayman. Especially those from jurisdictions who are mired down in criminal misconduct and mindset and systemic corruption these meeting are going to mean $#!%! We are shocked already to see some of nefarious appointees our affiliated political mafia has deliberately installed to carryout their whims and wishes. The UK excuses and promises to clean up corruption has not work so far and has cause people doubt or loose faith and question and reason it out that its their own corruption why they are unable to do so and it’s a damn good argument I tell you Lord Goldsmith.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    You’d think Eddie could afford a suit jacket that fits, being that it would be on our dime anyway.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Disappointed to say the least that John John, Bernie, Jay and Kenny were not their to offer their valuable insights.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Andre seems a little too eager to just give them everything they want, you have to stand up to these people as well, don’t just roll over and play dead Andre. We know you are fascinated with European Anglo culture but remember you are not one of them!

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  6. Anonymous says:

    The UK talking about working towards stopping financial crime and pointing fingers at us OTs is total hypocrisy.

    The City of London is the epicenter of financial cripre

    The UK established all OT Tax Havens, all transactions go thru the City of London.

    The UK ANTI-CORRUPTION LAWS are identified by international organizations as being the jurisdiction with very weak laws.

    our leaders are wasting money and time to attend this meeting.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Them and the US where you could still set up anonymous companies as late as last year. But they will never end up on any list because they are big and powerful.

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      • Anonymous says:

        We can still set up anonymous companies. UK is about the only country beating this dead horse.

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  7. Orrie Merren 🙏🏻🇰🇾 says:

    Financial crimes (inclusive of, inter alia, money laundering offences) subverts the rule of law — this is both a domestic (Cayman Islands) and international (with application of extra-territorial effect: ss.4-5, 321-322, Penal Code; ss.2(10), 133-136, 141-145, Proceeds of Crime Act) problem.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    The UK is not our friend. Better live on the gray list than publicly disclose everyone’s finances.

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    • Anonymous says:

      So says folks laundering money.

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      • Anonymous says:

        so says onshore where the illicit money is made and then easily paid into the onshore bank, UK not worried about that, when it is at its easiest to discover.

        90% of money laundering starts onshore, maybe bring in compliance laws to stop it.

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      • Keeping Up Appearances says:

        The financial industry is the main driving force and the facilitative force for all of the institutionalized corruption in the Cayman Islands and across the world and the main source of this highly destructive malfeasance is the City of London in and of the UK.

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