Although insurance companies owned by parent companies or groups
of clients for which they provided risk coverage dates back to the
1950s, captives didn’t make an appearance in the Cayman Islands until
the 1970s.
In the early 1990s, when the fund industry started attracting increasingly more institutional business, the Cayman Islands had no laws regulating funds.
Trusts are like the four-door sedan of Cayman’s financial services
industry: they’re not sexy or built for speed, but they’re safe,
comfortable, reliable and particularly good for families.
When Barclay’s Bank opened Cayman’s first commercial bank in 1953, nobody could have imagined that less than a quarter of a century later the Cayman Islands would be a leading offshore banking centre.
Before Tim Ridley became a director and then chairman of the
Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, he was a partner of Cayman’s leading law
firm, Maples & Calder.
One aspect of the Cayman Islands’ ascent as an
offshore financial centre powerhouse that is often overlooked is its regulatory
regime.
Fifty years ago, the word
infrastructure had little relevance in the Cayman Islands. Much of Grand Cayman
was without electricity. There were no telephones, no piped water and no
sewerage system.
If asked what factors have allowed the Cayman Islands to become a
successful financial services centre, those familiar with Cayman usually
point to two things: supporting legislation and highly qualified
professionals.
To look at the future requires a look back at some of the things that
happened during the roller coaster decade of the 2000s, which saw
Cayman’s financial services industry hit some of its highest highs and
lowest lows within a period of just a few years.