Cayman Islands on UK blacklist
(CNS Business): The UK’s financial regulator has placed Cayman on a list of what it describes as high risk countries. Despite on-going efforts by the Cayman Islands Government to change attitudes towards the financial services industry here, the Financial Conduct Authority has still blacklisted the country. The British watchdog, which replaced the Financial Services Authority, lists Cayman along with more than 90 other countries, many of which are unstable economies, based on what it described as the level of risk they pose to the FCA’s financial crime objectives linked to tackling money laundering, sanctions systems and controls, terrorist financing, and bribery and corruption.
All of the Channel Islands, Bermuda and even Switzerland are missing from the list, which is made up of lesser developed nations or countries with troubled economies and unstable governments.
According to the FCA website, countries on the list have been assessed using publicly available information and indices, including HM Treasury Sanctions, Financial Action Taskforce high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions, MoneyVal evaluations, Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) Human Rights Report, the UK Government’s Overseas Business Risk webpages and public information about the quality of regulation in each country.
“During supervisory visits to assess anti-money laundering (AML) controls, we tend to focus on business relationships which have higher risk factors,†the website states.
Despite Cayman’s rapid cooperation concerning FACTA and the UK’s version of the automatic exchange mechanism, as well as comments by British Prime Minister David Cameron that Cayman is not a tax haven, the country continues to battle its image of a rogue tax haven. Cayman’s high level scores at the international table when it comes to international standards, and the plethora of credentials that is frequently cited by representatives of the industry and the government, the jurisdiction is failing to make the necessary break through even with its relationship with the UK.
CNS has contact the Financial Services Ministry regarding the latest blow on the international PR stage for Cayman and is awaiting comment.
CNS Business update: Cayman government ‘astounded’ by blacklisting
See the list and more details about the contents on the FCA website.
Category: Finance, Financial Services
