About the Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands consists of three islands: Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. The primary drivers in the economy are financial services and tourism, though the property development and construction sectors are also important supporting sectors as a result of the island's fast paced development.

The country has established itself as one of the world's leading international financial centres. The tourism sector benefits from friendly people, clean and safe surroundings and an excellent marine environment, which ranks the islands among the world's top three snorkelling and diving destinations.

Doing business in Cayman is facilitated by a modern infrastructure of telecommunications, roads and utilities. There are no property, capital gains or income taxes in the Cayman Islands. The country has enjoyed this tax free status throughout its entire history.

Cayman Islands snap shot
The Economy
GDP per head: US$36,000 (est)
Main industries: Financial services and Tourism
Currency: Cayman Islands dollar. (US$ is also readily accepted).
Exchange rate: US$1.00 = CI$0.80

Government:
British overseas territory with governor appointed by the Crown.
There are no formal political parties.

Climate and topography:
Tropical marine with average temperatures of 80F throughout the year, with a rainy season between May and October. The islands are located roughly 520km west of Jamaica are low lying limestone based surrounded by coral reefs.

People and society
Population: 52,000 (est. 2007)
Literacy rate: 98%
Religion: Roughly 98% Protestant
Language: English

Regulatory Developments
Overall, Cayman has fared well with respect to the various initiatives over the past four years. The Cayman Islands received a favourable review by the OECD due its advancement commitment to the OECD and was not included on the OECD's list of tax havens. The Cayman Islands' commitment does not affect the country's status as a no tax jurisdiction.

Cayman took the necessary steps to enhance its anti-money laundering regime and as a result was removed from the list of non-cooperating territories and countries (NCCT) produced by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and was also recently given another clean bill of health by the Caribbean Action Task Force (CFATF), based on a recent review of the Cayman Islands by the latter organisation.

The jurisdiction underwent a review of its regulatory framework by the International Monetary Fund recently. The IMF assessments relate to financial regulation and supervision in OFCs, including anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism. The areas of focus are Banking and Insurance supervision, Companies and Trust Services regulatory and supervisory issues and the Securities sector including mutual funds and stock exchanges.

A detailed IMF review of the Cayman Islands was carried out against four key sets of international regulatory standards, namely the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision, the IOSCO principles for the investments sector, the IAIS Principles for insurance regulation and the FATF 40 + 8 Recommendations which are recognized as the international standard in the combat against money laundering and financing of terrorism.

In a solid endorsement of Cayman’s high regulatory standards, the IMF report concluded that the Cayman Islands complied with every principle in the area of banking regulation, 25 of the relevant 26 principles for the investments sector, 11 out of 17 of the IAIS standards for insurance and all but two of the FATF’s 40 + 8 Recommendations.

Key Financial Services Legislation
Below is a list of the key legislation governing the financial services sector in the Cayman Islands. This list sets out the key types of businesses that are licensed and the main requirements.

If you have a query regarding any issues in the legislation feel free to send us an email and we will be happy to assist.

• Banks & Trust Companies Law (2007 Revision)
• Companies Law (2007 Revision)
• Companies (Amendment) Law 2007
• Mutual Funds Law 2007
• Insurance Law (2007 Revision)
• Insurance (Amendment) Law 2007
• Securities Investments Business Law (2007 Revision)