CIG tightens virtual asset regime ahead of FATF review
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government has now published two of the bills approved by Cabinet earlier this month, designed to further modernise the jurisdiction’s virtual asset regime ahead of the upcoming Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 5th Round Mutual Evaluation of the jurisdiction’s anti-money laundering, counter-financing of terrorism and counter-proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPF) framework.
The Churches Incorporation (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and the Virtual Asset (Service Providers) (Amendment) Bill, 2025 enhance key elements of Cayman’s regulatory framework.
The legislative reforms are part of a broader agenda under the Ministry of Financial Services and Commerce to align the Cayman Islands with evolving global expectations, while positioning the jurisdiction for long-term competitiveness, officials said in a release Thursday.
“This government is taking focused, decisive action to safeguard Cayman’s global standing and
prepare rigorously for the 5th Round FATF assessment in 2027,” said Premier and Financial Services Minister André Ebanks. “At the same time, we are making commercial enhancements to sustain and attract innovation and investment in our financial services industry.”
The amendment to the Churches Incorporation Act addresses a long-identified compliance issue. It
ensures that churches registered as non-profit organisations are fully aligned with the registration
and governance requirements of the Non-Profit Organisation Act, officials have stated.
By explicitly affirming the non-profit nature of their activities in law, the bill enhances transparency, mitigates financial crime risks, and demonstrates the jurisdiction’s commitment to best practice regulation in line with FATF standards. Extensive consultation with leaders from affected churches was undertaken to develop a collaborative and proportionate solution.
The bill introduces modernised governance provisions that reflect current realities and support good stewardship. The Virtual Asset Service Providers Amendment Bill aims to clarify the treatment of tokenised
investment funds, where traditional equity or investment interests are digitally represented on a
blockchain.
Ebanks said this growing segment of the financial market holds significant promise, but will benefit from legislative clarity to continue to operate within Cayman’s virtual asset regime. These amendments reflect Cayman’s agility in responding to global fintech developments and reinforce its appeal as a destination for cutting-edge investment products.
The bills are only the first in a series of planned legislative reforms being developed this year to support the FATF assessment and strengthen compliance frameworks across the jurisdiction. At the same time, new commercial enhancements aimed at sustaining Cayman’s global attractiveness as an international financial centre are also underway.
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Category: Business, Financial Services, Laws, Politics
Let’s hope this government will tighten up on the scrutiny of duty waivers for miscellaneous construction materials. We need to treat inspection of these waivers like the forfeited CIG revenue it is. Parish submitted duty waivers and finite preferred developer waivers are exploited active revenue leak points.
Targeting the churches that have the capability to improve the families with support in more ways than religion and tossing them in with a fake currency that was started to buy and sell drugs on the silk road is illustrative of the decline of western civilazation.
These are two separate bills
There are over 200 registered churches in the Cayman Islands, the highest number of churches per capita in the Caribbean, and not because we are God-fearing or even church-going. Let’s hope that the money laundering cited by past CFATF Reports will finally be addressed by shining light into this deep category of previously financially opaque entities. It’s more than suspicious.