Officials still trying to get Cayman off grey list
(CNS): Financial Services Minister André Ebanks, Attorney General Samuel Bulgin and other government officials were in Mexico last week continuing efforts to get the Cayman Islands off the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list of jurisdictions when it comes to money laundering. Cayman is still on the ‘watch’ list, as concerns remain about the lack of successful money laundering investigations or prosecutions.
The delegation met with the Americas Joint Group (Joint Group), a sub-working group of the FATF’s International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG), to update them on the latest developments regarding that remaining area of weakness. The group will report its findings to FATF ahead of its plenary in June, when a public statement will be released about the status of jurisdictions on its monitoring list and whether or not Cayman will be on the grey list.
If the jurisdiction is to be removed, that is expected to happen at the following plenary, which will be in October.
Since the last meeting, when Cayman remained on the list, Canover Watson and Bruce Blake received stiff sentences in a fraud case after the two football executives with CIFA and CONCACAF were convicted of various offences, including false accounting and money laundering. This case has been held up as an example of the jurisdiction’s efforts to tackle financial crime.
Efforts to get off the grey list may also have been assisted by the amendments to seven pieces of legislation that were passed in parliament last month that will help strengthen the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority’s powers to apply proportionate and dissuasive sanctions to all types of legal entities within its supervision.
Amendments to the Monetary Authority Act will also allow CIMA to spontaneously share non-public information of criminal conduct uncovered during its normal course of duties with an overseas regulatory authority.
After Mexico, Ebanks headed to London, where he will join Premier Wayne Panton this week and take part in several events, including a meeting with Cayman Finance and the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council plenary sessions.
Panton will participate in a number of bilateral meetings and events, such as the UK Overseas Territories Association Political Council Meeting. This will be the first time the leaders of the Overseas Territories and senior UK parliamentarians have come together to debate and discuss issues of profound importance to the territories. At the invitation of UK Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the premier will also attend Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.
After the JMC, Minister Ebanks will engage in stakeholder meetings in Hong Kong before joining officials from the Cayman Islands Intellectual Property Office in Singapore for the International Trade Mark Association Annual Meeting the week of 16 May.
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Category: Business, Financial Services
We are all growing’s a bit tired of Andre and his ‘Cayman Utopia’ where everything is wonderful. So where is Andre when all of the shenanigan’s are going on within his camp? He seems to have distanced himself from his PACT. Talking big about all he is doing, however in 2 years there has been zero progress. Take stalk of all those ppm votes – you won’t be getting those again. Fool me once…..
A recent article mentioned that the Numbers game generates between $30 and $50 million per year. This money is being laundered on the island. Can we not hunt this down? Seems like low hanging fruit to me.
Our law firms are openly practicing Cayman law without admitted attorneys, all over the world, and the Attorney General remains mute. Open serious criminality dating back to First Cayman Bank remain not prosecuted. Fronting is a national sport. We are on the Grey List for one reason and one reason only. We deserve it!
Cayman is never going to be a good place to prosecute money launderers. The assets are elsewhere, the perps are mostly elsewhere, and the shell corporations created in Cayman have nothing to go after in Cayman. You can delist them and that’s about it. But readily providing cooperation and financial records evidence to US and UK and EU prosecutors would go a long way toward solving your problem.
A new government Mafia is rising in this island consisting of old loyalties and old hands who are still steep in corruption old ways and are the remnants of the drug trafficking and money laundering era. Who are so called business and influence pariahs who now sit as political king makers and backers still preying on Government still recruiting disciples who can influence decisions and outcomes and deals which benefit them an their family and business associates only. Their tentacles have to be removed from both the civil service and private sector to get Cayman off this so called grey list Minister Ebanks. your first attempt to clean up your house has merely dislodged and shifted this virus over to a conducive host who was already corrupted by these vices. Where this terrible blight / virus mentors in the CS and private sector continue to protect utilise and nurture it and prepare it for a leadership role in the near future.We cannot police our private sector until we clean up those who regulate the public sector and the corruption start at the very top!
345 Mafia
typical response when you don’t grasp the subject matter at hand. blame blame someone else. this also happens when you are blinded by jealousy.
I remember someone with a very small mind saying that Tara Rives only job is to get us off the gray list.
why isn’t that being said about Andre?
sorry if you don’t hold everyone to the same standard who are part of the problem.
let start with quality appointments to our key boards.
remember nepotism is a form of corruption.
6:05 well said. The frightening aspect of 345 mafia post is that the writer actually believes it. I keep saying that mental illness is a major issue in our Islands.
345 Get help please.
BTW Andre does not have a house to clean. He is renting for 4 years. With supporters like yourself the lease will not be renewed.
One big political game, the UK, US and other income tax based economies are envious and spiteful because they didn’t think of this model first. Consumption based tax systems encourage growth and innovation and we cornered the market!
Here here! Further innovation is obtainable and it behooves me to say that a Cayman Islands official crypto coin should be created. I for one deem it appropriate for the coin to be named after the honorable Premier Big Mack Daddy McKeeva. Perhaps CayMac crypto is a fine name.
And you have to live with it. Stop whining.
There is no such thing as a grey list, black list, whitelist, etc.
It is all optics to make believe there is honesty in the financial “industry”.
Next question please.
Minister Andre you have one job get us off the list.
but we only offer ‘financial services’ like everywhere else!!!
The issue here that is escaping everyone including the Minister is that, no matter what we do legislatively, it will never be good enough for the FATF and others. This is a political game not a matter of passing legislation and ticking boxes. Look at how many of those who are accusing us are actually doing much worse with reforming their legislation and regulations. We cant win this by silent compliance, you have to take the fight to them! Start a PR campaign aimed at exposing the hypocritical regimes that are trying to shut ours down because they want a bigger piece of the pie. Publish how much the offshore industry feeds into the onshore world. Why do you think Delaware and the City of London exist/were created? They want to transfer the offshore piece of the pie into a “safehaven/taxhaven” onshore.
FATF want to see real money laundering offences prosecuted.
Tell that to the AG and ODPP.
At the end of the day, does it really matter if Cayman is on some grey list? Is this impacting the financial services business or anything else here? No. CIMA is a far greater hazard to the financial services industry. Just follow actual international standards and in time this will go away but for some reason this seems impossible.
It is better to remain silent than share your thoughts and confirm your serious level of ignorance.
Tax companies and people making over 1 Million a month.
That gets you off the list quickly.
Cayman is a money laundering heaven, everyone knows this and people act like it’s 1970 with no internet.
the level of ignorance is astounding, shame CNS can’t bar people with a low IQ from commenting, but then only a few of us would be left
Yeah personal attacks on IQ.
Arrogance is the real reason we are in this mess.
The massive downvote shows exactly what’s going on.
The cost of setting up and running a tax system like this would far exceed any amount of revenue from taxation. Think!
I bid you luck Andre. But unfortunately the FATF read the news too. I’m sure they are aware of our Cabinet ministers antics acting like they are above the law and the fact that some of them have serious convictions. Those optics alone aren’t good. The potential for more financial crime here is still high even if not evident. We have a proven reputation of culpability.
soon come bobo
The recent Judicial review decision brought by Maples does not aid the process to get Cayman off the grey lists. The decision harms the jurisdiction.
Unfortunately, some members in industry think it can thumb its nose up to the national CIG strategy to get Cayman off of the list and Cayman’s AML legislation/rules for a short term “victory”. The jurisdiction lost after the JR decision. The rules apply for a reason and the national strategy was rolled out after engaging Industry via a consultation process.
The minister will need to sit everyone involved around the table in order to find consensus for the greater good of the jurisdiction. First step is to demand participants to leave their egos at the door if Cayman is to succeed in this critical mission.
The judgement was made because CIMA misunderstood their role, overstepped and demanded much more than the international standards on AML. It wasn’t a case some members in industry thinking it can thumb its nose up – unless I misunderstood you and you were referring to CIMA?
You clearly did not understand what the case with Maples was about. I suggest you go back and read the articles about that. Maples was challenging industry practices that were unreasonable. It has nothing to do with the FATF grey list. The decision is that we need stronger sentencing to discourage money laundering.
Or just tax anyone making a certain amount of money…most people that are able to launder money are foreigners… Tax them and then they won’t need to come and do illegal business in Cayman.
Tax them and then they won’t need to come and do legal business in Cayman.
I don’t think you understood what happened.
The regulations are in place, it was CIMA that overstepped them, not Maples.
Remember it was the government and regulator that got Cayman on the grey list. If this does in fact impact getting off it, you know who to blame.
Cayman will remain on the gray list due to our tax situation. Banking here is already more difficult than it is in Europe and the US.
The UK will impose its will upon our government. End of Story.
Andre is good, but why oh why the AG and other cronies? They’re out of their depth here whatever do they hope to achieve as ambassadors for the Cayman Islands other than to embarrass us. Perhaps we should be extremely careful who we send.
AG is out of depth. Prime example of the Peter principle. And to think that the AG is chairman of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF). Wonder how forthcoming the AG is about the true nature and reality of things.
“Efforts to get off the grey list may also have been assisted by the amendments to seven pieces of legislation that were passed in parliament last month”
They just dont get it. Cayman can have all the regulations and laws it likes. We are really good at having first class rules. Problem is that FATF expects to see evidence of us enforcing them, which we are really bad at, especially when it contradicts vested interests. Dont think locking up Bruce and Canover is gong to cut it, or charging street criminals and illegal gamblers with money laundering because they spent the proceeds of their crimes, or trying (and failing) to hit Maples with anti money laundering charges. Try actually investigating and charging those running frauds and financial crime using Cayman vehicles, or God forbid, charge someone in power for corruption, and you may get some credibility. Or keep blowing smoke, get blacklisted, and watch the financial services gravy train coming barreling off the tracks.
Maples were not charged with anti money laundering.
Crystal ball sees the words “not” and “anti” removed in the future.
Pls take off your donkey ears
Maybe start with any number of “restaurant groups” here
Requiring prosecutions is not part of a reasonable legislative regime. Do we require prosecutions for murders in Cayman to show that we are against people killing one another? If there is no crime to prosecute, it shows that Cayman is doing its job and there are no crimes that need prosecution. Requiring cases and convictions is simple totalitarianism and leads down a path that can never be satisfied. For example, is one prosecution enough, 10, 100? There is no objective yardstick.
Interesting.
Why aren’t the UK, US and Ireland etc on these lists? They’re bigger money laundering jurisdictions with less regulation than us.
Tell them to go stuff themselves.
Is that why The Firm was based on this country?
I believe everything I see in fiction movies too, especially when it’s 30 years old like the Firm. 😉
Wait until they do a sequel film (The Firm II), based on money laundering and corporate fraud, focused on The City of London and Delaware.
No that’s because the US are moronic uneducated buffoons.
You should have included Canada. Just read Willful Blindness written by a Canadian journalist.
Canada, most notably British Columbia is the world’s laundromat.
We should send Jay, Kenneth, and Sabrina to negotiate with them. After five minutes they would realize that we’re not smart enough to was our own asses much less launder money.
I spit up.
Add Seymour, Mac and Saunders, just remove all doubt that we are not smart at all.
You forgot The Bern.
Disagree. Our delegation to Mexico don’t even speak spanish. We should have sent Jon Jon instead. He proved to us during the pandemic that he speaks ten different languages, including spanish as demonstrated during the weekly press briefings. We would have been off the list by now.