Cayman Finance boss talks transparency with BBC
Jude Scott’s BBC appearance
(CNS Business): Appearing on ‘Business Live’ on the BBC’s World News channel earlier this month, Jude Scott stressed that Cayman is not a tax haven but a tax neutral jurisdiction. The CEO of Cayman Finance pressed home the continued claim that Cayman is a transparent jurisdiction where the financial industry is held to the highest standards. Scott told BBC News presenter Tanya Beckett, “The reality is not all offshore jurisdictions are made the same.”
Answering questions about the Panama Papers and transparency in general, he said, “We put a lot of work in, and some cases – for example our anti-money laundering regimes – have been in place for over 15 years.” He added, “We really look to create a strong compliance culture, and as a result we’re seeing a lot of clients who desire that kind of environment now looking to relocate into the jurisdiction.”
Describing Cayman as a top quality jurisdiction following international standards, he said there was not much negative impact on Cayman from the Panama Papers, claiming, “We’ve seen a lot of positive outcome from it.”
Stressing that Cayman was not a tax haven, Scott said, “We’re a transparent jurisdiction and we’re a tax neutral jurisdiction. He explained, “From a tax perspective we have signed up to UK FATCA and US FATCA. We have been one of the early adopters of Common Reporting Standards, and really the vast majority of the business we do is fully transparent.”
He said that Cayman Finance and other industry stakeholders work hard to ensure that the financial industry is held to the highest standards and that all of those who work within the industry are of the highest calibre.
“As a jurisdiction I guess it has become a part of our DNA,” he said. “We’ve really focused on being a premier jurisdiction modelled after London as well as New York and so we constantly look to seek out the best local and international talent, attract them and also retain them.”
Category: Finance, Financial Services
Maybe we don’t give ourselves enough credit for the double standards that exist today, and perhaps we have been too polite for not pointing them out. Sadly, it is actually a bit self-deprecating to liken the Cayman Islands to loosey-goosey NYC or London as the bulwarks of KYC and AML for the planet. In terms of implementing FATF and ever-evolving compliance standards we have answered with extraordinary enthusiasm and are very likely now to be one of the most thorough and slowest places in the western world for opening an account. Many major western banking centers still neglect to ask for quite a lot of what has been routinely collected and reviewed in the Cayman Islands for a decade or more. Cayman has been among the first to adopt new standards for years.