Financial Services

Cayman faces new EU blacklisting
(CNS): The European Parliament is planning a new blacklist of tax havens and the Cayman Islands appears to be at the heart of the move. While local political leaders here have made much of the efforts last year to get this jurisdiction removed from the existing blacklist, MEPs believe the removal of Cayman from it […]

UK drafts public BO order but happy with status quo
(CNS): The UK government has now drafted an order-in-council regarding the introduction of public registers of beneficial ownership in the overseas territories. But foreign office minister Wendy Morton said in a written statement to the UK parliament recently that, given the commitments made by all the UK Overseas Territories, there is no need to enact […]

Minister claims success in perception battle
(CNS): In a long address to parliament Monday, Minister Tara Rivers outlined what she sees as her achievements during her tenure at the helm of the Ministry of Financial Services, from the reams of legislation passed to investment in the sector. Rivers also claimed credit for taking on Cayman’s “perception problem”. She said the ministry […]

Tax report puts Cayman in negative spotlight
(CNS): The report published Friday by the Tax Justice Network identifying the Cayman Islands as the single biggest jurisdiction for global tax losses led to a flurry of negative headlines over the weekend. The government issued a brief statement Friday evening, in which officials said that Cayman supported fair tax systems and noted that it […]

Cayman top of list for global tax losses
(CNS): Public purses around the world are losing over $427 billion in tax each year to international corporate tax abuse and private tax evasion, according to a new global report. The State of Tax Justice 2020, the inaugural edition of what is to be an annual report by the Tax Justice Network, found that more […]

Cayman Finance floats option to contentious bills
(CNS): Cayman Finance has proposed an alternative approach to the amendments government plans to make to several laws in order to address compliance issues regarding transparency of accounting records for offshore service providers. The list of bills stirred up controversy with stakeholders when they were circulated to industry players, raising alarm that they posed a […]

New rules expected to boost virtual assets sector
(CNS): The Cayman Islands’ ability to regulate and attract individuals and entities in the virtual assets market has been strengthened with the recent commencement of legislation for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), officials have said. They will also help Cayman comply with an important global review. A virtual asset is a digital representation of value […]

Industry rejects need for latest financial bills
(CNS): Comments sent to the Ministry of Financial Services by the Cayman Islands Company Managers Association indicate that a batch of bills being circulated to provide more accounting oversight are completely unnecessary and will lead to a loss of business. The industry body noted that changes to several financial sector laws are being proposed because […]

Consultation on financial sector bills ‘a charade’
(CNS): The financial services community is raising concerns that continuing changes to laws governing the sector are making Cayman less competitive. Industry experts are also accusing government of “a charade” and not fully engaging with them about the impact. Government has recently released a swathe of bills aimed at increasing oversight of records held by […]

EU drops Cayman from black-list
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government and the financial services sector were both breathing a sigh of relief, Tuesday, and not just because the islands dodged the path of a category 4 hurricane. The jurisdiction has been removed from the European Union’s black-list of non-cooperative jurisdictions, as hoped, after meeting the EU’s requirements regarding the supervision […]