7% Growth of Cayman Offshore Business
The Cayman Islands is one of largest financial centres in the world and a well-known tax haven, which has more registered businesses than people.
In accordance with the Caribbean tax haven’s financial regulator, the number of financial institutions setting up shop in this jurisdiction’s thriving offshore sector rose 7% last fiscal year.
According to a Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) report on the 2005 fiscal year, there were 570 banks and trusts in the British dependency, and most of the world’s top banks had branches or subsidiaries there.
Licenses for the offshore business rose from 663 to 709, which is 7% and mutual funds increased from 5,399 in 2004 to 6,527 in 2005. These are the latest figures offered by regulators. The sectors that had the most growth are insurance and mutual fund.
On December 5, 2006 a statement was made that said that International assets booked through banks in the Cayman Islands stood at USD 1.26 billion.
Both regulations and confidentiality laws had helped the Cayman Islands to become one of the world’s largest banking centers. It is also worth noting that the Cayman Islands has increasingly strengthened its financial laws since being put on an international blacklist of 15 alleged money laundering havens in 2000.