(CNS Business): Maples and Calder Global Managing Partner, Henry Smith, has been appointed to the global Council of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) following a membership vote at the association's AGM in London on 20 September. Smith, who will be one of two representatives for the Americas region on the council, said he was honoured to represent the Americas region. "The prevalence of the use of the Cayman Islands and the BVI as a domicile for both hedge funds and private equity funds means that significant numbers of industry participants in the Americas region are currently managing, administering or invested in Cayman Islands or BVI investment funds," he said.

(BBC): The financial services industry in the Channel Islands has been described as "hugely important" by the UK's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. He told the BBC the islands were "an important gateway for the wider financial sector and indeed the economy in the United Kingdom". Meanwhile his fellow Liberal Democrat Vince Cable has called for a crack down on "tax havens", although it was not clear if Mr Cable was referring to the islands or not. There is no generally agreed definition of "tax haven". The business secretary called for "cracking down hard on not just criminal tax evasion but on abusive tax avoidance". 

(CNS Business): The man behind the development of the Ritz Carlton, as well as a complex web of companies involved in the creation of Cayman’s five-star resort, appears to have taken millions of dollars over a five year period from the companies that owned the hotel. According to auditors conducting the on-going investigation, these financial transactions cannot be explained. In a ruling delivered in Cayman’s Grand Court last week relating to one of many suits surrounding the hotel, it was revealed that the Ritz-Carlton appeared to be insolvent to the tune of some US$340 million and those owed money are not likely to get more than 2.5 cents on the dollar, according to a review by Deloitte. 

(CNS Business): The Cayman Islands has fallen a further four places in the world rankings of financial centres in the 12th edition of the GFCI report. The Cayman Islands is now ranked 44th in a list of 77 rated centres. Cayman holds its own, however, in the ranks of offshore financial centres, which have continued to decline over the last few years owing, the report publishers say, to “significant reputational damage”. Cayman tops the offshore table for the region and is fourth overall for offshore, with just the Channel Islands above it. The report states that assessments for Cayman show a comparatively balanced picture, with slightly above average assessments from other offshore centres and slightly below average from Europe.

(CNS Business): Following a recent visit to China, the executive director of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA) said that the country needed to open its eyes to the Asian traveller as well as others from emerging markets.  Jane van der Bol attended the Society of Incentive Travel Executives (Site) International Conference held in Beijing last month and has pointed out that there is a huge market that Cayman now needs to tap into. The head of the private sector tourism body said the World Tourism Organization predicts that people traveling abroad will reach 1 billion tourists by the end of this year and the majority will be from Asia.

(New York Times): Buried deep in the tax returns released by Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign are references to dozens of offshore holdings with names like Ursa Funding (Luxembourg) S.à.r.l. and Sankaty Credit Opportunities Investors (Offshore) IV, based in the Cayman Islands. Mr Romney, responding to opponents’ barbs about his use of overseas tax havens, has offered a narrow defense, saying only that the investments, many made through the private equity firm he founded, Bain Capital, have yielded him “not one dollar of reduction in taxes.” A review of thousands of pages of financial documents and interviews with tax lawyers found that in some cases, the offshore arrangements enabled his individual retirement account to avoid taxes on its investments and may well have reduced Mr Romney’s personal income tax bills.

(CNS Business): President George W Bush will be heading to Cayman for a brief visit in November as the star speaker at an inaugural specialist investment conference. Bush and Sir Richard Branson will be key note speakers at the Cayman Alternative Investment Summit, with the former Republican president topping the bill for his speaking debut in the Cayman Islands on the eve of the US presidential election. Sponsors of the event, which will run at the same time as the Legends Tennis Tournament at the Ritz Carlton, said the conference is about the “crucial ingredients for sustaining a vibrant global alternative investment industry”. George Bush is scheduled to speak at 7pm on Thursday 1 November between cocktails and dinner.

(CNS Business): The recent legal injunction won by local boat operators does not prevent the developer from continuing work at the Safehaven docks, the Port Authority has stated. As the dispute over the new marina and the interim site moves into the local courts, work is continuing on the proposed plans at other areas of the location. Officials said this does not interfere with the vessels belonging to the captains who brought the successful legal action last week that won them a reprieve from eviction. The case will be returning before next month when the full details of the dispute over the redevelopment will be heard and decided.

(CNS Business): The Cayman government has now included India and China on the list of countries that have laws and regulations in place considered to be equivalent to those of the Cayman Islands, with respect to the evidence of identity required from applicants for business. Mexico remains on the same list, despite the recent US Senate report which found that HSBC’s Mexican branch (HBMX) had accounts in the Cayman Islands believed to have links to organized crime. In July Mexican regulators imposed a fine of nearly $28 million on HBMX for not having sufficient anti-money laundering (AML) controls. Around the same time the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority announced an investigation into the apparent breakdown of AML procedures at the Mexican bank, but no results from that investigation have so far been revealed.

(CNS Business): The Alexander Hotel in Cayman Brac will be the first business in the Caribbean to offer electric cars for daily rental. Deputy Premier Juliana O’Connor Connolly, who is also the minister responsible for the Sister Islands, said, “It is vital to our tourism industry that we remain persistent in providing environmentally-friendly products and services for our visitors and we hope their participation will assist in preservation of these islands that we call home.” The hotel is built next to Salt Water Pond, which the government has removed from the list of animal sanctuaries in the Cayman Islands against the advice of the Department of Environment so that the hotel’s owner could deal with the bad smell emanating from the wetland pond.

(CNS Business): Following the opening of a Hong Kong office in January this year, Mourant Ozannes has opened an office in the British Virgin Islands, where it will initially focus on corporate, international finance, investment funds, investment business regulation and insolvency and litigation services, the law firm said. Mourant Ozannes advises on the laws of the BVI, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey from these locations and from offices in both Hong Kong and London. Mourant Ozannes Cayman Managing Partner, Neal Lomax, said "BVI is one of the world's leading offshore financial centres. We are seeing increasing demand from clients and intermediaries for BVI legal services across our practice areas. In response to this demand, we are committed to establishing a top tier practice in the jurisdiction."

(CNS Business): Eight industry pioneers will be inducted into International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame on 7 November at a gala event to mark the 12th annual induction ceremony. Dive industry experts from around the world will journey to the Cayman Islands for the event, which will be hosted by Cayman Premier McKeeva Bush at the Westin Casuarina Resort and Spa. Founded in 2000 by the Cayman Islands Ministry of Tourism, the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame recognises international and local Cayman pioneers who have made outstanding contributions to the recreational scuba diving industry, in a yearly ceremony held in the Grand Cayman.

(CNS Business): Auto insurance company SaxonMG is now partnering with Brac Insurance to expand its personal and business motor insurance services, including their 100% internet based Buy Online service, to the Sister Islands. Brac Insurance Director Kathy Kirkconnell confirmed that the Brac-based business would continue as agents for rival insurance provider Cayman First and would now be offering motor insurance for both companies. "I am excited to bring SaxonMG’s solutions to Cayman Brac and Little Cayman and look forward to showing our clients Saxon’s cutting edge technology. Partnering with SaxonMG gives Brac Insurance the opportunity to provide more choices for our clients’ insurance needs,” Kirkconnell said.

(CNS Business): RBC Wealth Management has signed on as a ‘super sponsor’ of the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre’s 10th annual Jingle Bell Walk Run. The 2012 Jingle Bell Walk Run will take place on 9 December, at the Grand Caymanian Resort in Crystal Harbour.  A major fundraising event for the Crisis Centre, the Jingle Bell Walk Run has historically raised a significant portion of the Centre’s annual operating budget. Established in 2003, the Centre is Cayman's only safe house providing protection and support for women and their children who are victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault. 

(CNS Business): The inaugural “CIBC FirstCaribbean walk to support the fight against cancer" will take place in the 17 countries where the bank operates on the weekend of 29 and 30 September. The bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Rik Parkhill, and members of the bank’s Senior Executive Team, will join staff around the region for seventeen special walks. This will include the "Walk for the Cure" in the Cayman Islands to raise money for the CI Cancer Society on Sunday, 30 September. Walkers throughout the Caribbean and Canada include Kevin and Christian in Barbados who lost a parent to cancer, Keturah in the Bahamas and Shadden in Grand Cayman who are walking for loved ones lost, while Sharon in Antigua celebrates her mother’s triumph over cancer.