Tag: Featured
Cayman banks must adapt to survive de-risking
(CNS Business): The banking sector in Cayman will have to accept new ways of working, including sharing costs and services, in order to survive in the current climate of de-risking, according to US industry consultants that visited the jurisdiction recently. “There has been a paradigm shift in international banking and payments,” said Kobi Dorenbush, former […]
Import values drop due to oil prices
(CNS Business): Demand for imports into the Cayman Islands grew by around 7% in 2015 but the value decline by 6.3% compared to last year because of the fall in oil prices. Figures from the Economics and Statistics Office (ESO) revealed in its Foreign Trade Statistics Report that the total value of goods imported fell […]
UK chancellor backs Cayman’s position on beneficial ownership
(CNS Business): The government has released the response it received from Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, to the letter sent to him by Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton about the Cayman government’s position on the sharing of beneficial ownership information. The UK’s senior Cabinet minister has accepted that any new future regime or […]
Cayman changes perception of offshore centres
(CNS Business): The narrative that the Cayman Islands and other offshore jurisdictions are to blame for the world’s corruption, financial crime and tax evasion is finally changing, Premier Alden McLaughlin and Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton believe. Having openly agreed to sign up to any new mechanisms for exchange of information on beneficial ownership at […]
Banks under pressure to shift to electronic clearance
(CNS Business): The government is engaged in talks with local banks to introduce electronic transfers and clearing systems in the first quarter of next year, Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton has stated. He told legislators last week that the six local clearing banks have entered into an MOU with a Barbados-based firm to create a […]
Cayman to extend BO info exchange and repeal secrecy law
(CNS Business): After just two days in London, the Cayman Islands Government has announced plans to enter into deals, similar to the one it has with the UK, over the exchange of beneficial ownership information with other jurisdictions and to amend the notorious secrecy law. On the eve of the UK’s anti-corruption summit, Premier Alden […]
Panama Papers published on line
(CNS Business): The huge database of documents, now known as the Panama Papers, relating to more than 200,000 offshore accounts has been posted online. The full database became accessible to the public for the first time at 18:00 GMT on Monday at offshoreleaks.icij.org. Anyone can now search the extensive data base, which includes many entities registered […]
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 […]
First US cruise ship for fifty years docks in Havana
(CNS Business): More than 700 passengers on the first cruise in almost 50 years arrived in Havana Monday on a Carnival ship, which left Miami on Sunday. The Adonia, which is part of its Fathom cruise fleet, steamed into Cuba to be greeted by waving crowds. Although Americans still cannot legally visit Cuba as tourists, […]
UK-Cayman beneficial ownership deal more secure than register
(CNS Business): The system agreed by the UK and the Cayman Islands over how beneficial ownership information will be shared with the relevant authorities is safer than a centralised public register because the new platform for access will not require information to be aggregated in one place, which would have made it vulnerable to hackers, […]
CORE programme grows another 2MW
(CNS Business): The Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) has sanction an expansion of Caribbean Utilities Company’s Consumer-Owned Renewable Energy (CORE) Generation Programme, which will see more residential and commercial customers who are using alternative power, such as solar and wind, to feed back another two megawatts of power to the grid. The Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) programme, […]
Ex-senior cop to lead DCI enforcement team
(CNS Business): A former chief inspector with the RCIPS has taken up the post of head of Compliance and Enforcement at the Department of Commerce and Investment (DCI), which has added four new staff members over the last month to beef up enforcement of the laws relating to the business community. Claudia Brady, who started […]
Law paves way for new offshore business
(CNS Business): The financial services minister steered a piece of legislation through the Legislative Assembly Wednesday that he said paves the way for a new type of business vehicle in the Cayman Islands, which has been driven by industry demand. The Limited Liability Company Bill, 2015, which was presented by Wayne Panton and passed unanimously […]
Minister points to worrying trend at EU grilling
(CNS Business): The Cayman Islands financial services minister says there is a worrying trend in attitudes towards offshore financial services in Europe that would go well beyond concerns about automatic exchange of information and public access to beneficial ownership. Wayne Panton said some European politicians appear to be reverting back to arguments from the 1990’s […]
CIMA battles to find insurance chief
(CNS Business): The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority has struggled to find someone for the post of Head of the Insurance Division, officials said, citing fierce competition in the insurance sector as a contributing factor. At present, the post has been temporarily filled by Ruwan Jayasekera, who is very experienced and known to the industry, and […]
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