Cayman Islands - An International Financial Centre

Cayman is well-developed as an international financial centre. The Cayman Islands Government has constructed regulatory regime which is highly favorable to offshore operations. There is no taxation in the islands except for the stamp duty and import duties.

There are about 30,000 companies registered along with the 600 banks and 450 insurance companies. For 25 years the Government has welcomed offshore business, and has created a world-standard regulatory structure to avoid money-laundering and other criminal activity. The Cayman Islands has the world's largest offshore banking sector, and is second only to Bermuda as a captive insurance centre. Mutual funds have been a more recent success story, assisted by the establishment of a stock exchange. Trust management has always been a significant activity. The islands also offer a shipping registry.

In June 2000, the Cayman Islands was identified by the FATF as non-cooperative in the fight against global money laundering. The result of this is that the Cayman Islands was one of fifteen tax jurisdictions placed on a blacklist. Each offending tax haven had a year in which to correct its tax regulations and legislation.

The FATF released its next annual report in June 2001, in which the organization revised its list of countries and territories deemed non-cooperative. Only four were removed from the list, including the Cayman Islands (the other three being the Bahamas, Liechtenstein and Panama).

The Cayman Islands was praised by the FATF for its substantial efforts to conform to forty recommendations set out by the FATF in a code of good practice governing money laundering. 

source:www.lowtax.net