David Bentley
David Bentley's Latest Posts
False start for mammoth Saudi fraud trial
(CNS Business): The biggest ever trial to be held in the Cayman Islands got off to a false start yesterday, with proceedings adjourned at the start of the first day due to what the chief justice Smellie called “housekeeping issues”, but with the courts blocking off the next seven months to deal with the liquidation […]
Email scams costing businesses $billions
(CNS Business): Unsuspecting employees in Cayman are being targeted by criminals with ‘Scareware’ and sophisticated email scams, enabling them to siphon off cash from these companies without the need for complex hacking techniques. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaints Center (ICC) has issued an alert surrounding Business Email Compromise (BEC), which it called the $3.1 Billion […]
BNP Paribas closes Cayman branch
(CNS Business): French bank BNP Paribas is closing one of its two remaining branches in the Cayman Islands, as it continues to scale back its international offshore operations, having closed two Cayman subsidiaries in 2015. However, it will retain a banking presence in Cayman, which it does not classify as a “fiscal paradise”.
EU blacklist of tax havens coming within six months
(CNS Business): A European-wide blacklist of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions is definitely coming and will be announced within six months, according to EU officials. Member of European Parliament (MEP) Jeppe Kofod, who is part of the TAXE2 Committee that a delegation from Cayman recently appeared before, confirmed to CNS Business that an EU blacklist for non-cooperative […]
Cayman’s compliance vastly superior to Panama’s
(CNS Business): The biggest tax leak in history, which revealed how a law firm in Panama helped thousands of people, including a number of world leaders, evade tax and hide money offshore, has up ramped calls for the UK government to increase the pressure on the British overseas territories (BOTs), including the Cayman Islands, to […]
De-risking threatens US dollar access for Cayman Banks
(CNS Business): De-risking by US banks, which left the overseas money transfer services firms unable to operate in Cayman for some time last year, still threatens to cause a much bigger crisis for the financial services industry, with the practice of closing bank accounts deemed to be too risky focused on Cayman banks that could […]
Cayman fund manager to capitalise on global food shortage
(CNS Business): A new hedge fund which aims to capitalise on demand for environmentally sustainable food is being launched and managed from the Cayman Islands next week. Prairie Wind Advisors, which was established in Cayman Enterprise City (CEC) last year, will bring its Harvest One Fund to market to invest in companies looking to solve […]
Chamber members impatient for labour reform
(CNS Business): Immigration and labour reform have been identified by Chamber of Commerce members as two of the main issues for the business community, which is becoming impatient for change, according to the new Chamber President Paul Pearson. He also noted the slow introduction of online payment systems within government and said people were spending “countless hours […]
June deadline for Cayman EU funds passport
(CNS Business): The Cayman Islands can expect a decision on its inclusion in the EU’s AIFMD (Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive) Passport scheme by June, which, if granted, would secure future access to European investors for funds either managed or registered in Cayman. The funds industry is keenly awaiting a resolution to this long drawn […]
Sir Richard Branson talks eco-tourism with Guy Harvey
(CNS Business): Efforts by renowned ocean conservationists, Sir Richard Branson and Guy Harvey, to stimulate eco-tourism in the Caribbean are taking off in a big way and making a difference, protecting tiger sharks and whale sharks across the region. These projects, among others, were highlighted last week in a special ‘one-on-one’ interview at the Cayman Alternative […]
Captives look for growth spots as soft market persists
(CNS Business): As insurance and reinsurance rates have now declined for ten consecutive quarters, there can be no doubt about the depth of the soft market, which continues to constrain captive formation. This has left the industry looking towards new emerging markets for future growth opportunities, as well as bringing new, non-traditional risks into captives, […]
Old CDOs fall outside scope of CRS
(CNS Business): As Cayman implements the OECD’s Common Reporting Standards (CRS), compliance teams working in structured finance will have taken a collective sigh of relief last week, as “old and cold CDOs” were exempted from CRS reporting obligations. The Department for International Tax Competition (DITC) also announced the 95 jurisdictions that will participate with Cayman […]
CIMA under fire in Caledonian saga
(CNS Business): The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) is in the firing line for failing to support Caledonian, as the fallout from the bank’s collapse continues. Published court documents showed there was no need for the freezing order on its US assets, which ultimately led to Caledonian’s insolvency. Questions are also being asked about Caledonian’s […]
Financial industry waking up to scale of cyber threat
(CNS Business): Cyber security is fast becoming the number one global business concern, and with hedge fund managers seen as being particularly susceptible, a sustained attack on the industry could have a major systemic impact here, as experts warn that Cayman firms are already being targeted by cyber-criminals.
Brazilian wealth seeks Cayman deals in complex environment
(CNS Business): The use of Cayman Islands funds as a wealth management tool for high net worth Latin American families was debated last week at the STEP LatAm Conference in Brazil, where kidnapping is a constant worry for the wealthy and demand for outbound investments is fuelled by privacy and security concerns as much as any […]
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