NEW YORK, New York – The Cayman Islands delegation was well received at the 6th Annual Cayman Finance New York Breakfast Briefing held Tuesday morning at the Harvard Club of New York City.

During welcome remarks, Cayman Islands Governor Martyn Roper noted the professionalism of Cayman’s Financial Service sector and confirmed that the sector has the support of the United Kingdom.

Premier Hon. Alden McLaughlin told the more than 150 attendees that the Cayman Islands remains bullish about the prospects of financial services business in our jurisdiction and that the country and Government are gearing up for opportunities to successfully meet the challenges and uncertainties of the future.

In her address, Minister of Financial Services and Home Affairs Hon. Tara Rivers spoke of the good work that Cayman has done in the fight against tax evasion, money laundering and countering terrorist financing and that this work was recognised by the likes of the OECD. She also spoke about Cayman’s efforts to comply with the most recent ‘economic substance’ requirements of the EU as well as the OECD.

The Premier, Ms Rivers, Attorney General Hon. Sam Bulgin and the Cayman delegation travelled to New York over the weekend following meetings in London, Brussels, Berlin and Paris where they attended 13 meetings with representatives from the European Union and various EU member states including Germany and France.

“We wanted to ensure that the EU Commission, the Code of Conduct Group and member states understand that Cayman is meeting the commitments we made and to provide opportunities for them to raise any concerns,” Mr. McLaughlin told the New York breakfast crowd. “Conversations were professional and frank and mostly positive.”

Mr. McLaughlin also told the audience of the new Ministry of International Trade, Investment, Aviation and Maritime Affairs, which has been set up to better coordinate Cayman’s work in promoting the Cayman Islands overseas. He also told them about the United Kingdom’s assistance to establish Cayman’s own Asia Office based in Hong Kong.

The New York Breakfast Briefing is hosted each year by Cayman Finance to provide member firms and associates an opportunity to learn more about the latest developments in the Cayman Islands Financial Services Industry. This is the first year that the Premier has been invited to give welcome remarks at the event.

During her address, Ms Rivers noted that the presence at the event of the Governor, Premier, the Attorney General and herself, “Underscores our commitment to the Financial Services Industry; an industry that accounts for roughly 56 per cent of our GDP. It is our pleasure to not only sponsor this event annually, but to also participate in providing the key policy update covering the work of the past year and providing insight into the plans for the year ahead.

“Cayman will continue being a place for sound business, long into the future, because we will continue to meet internationally adopted standards,” she said. “Over the many decades we have demonstrated that we have the expertise and the resiliency needed in order to successfully navigate change, for the benefit of our clients and our country as a whole. As our history has shown us, the future of the Cayman Islands is bright.”

On Tuesday evening the Cayman delegation attended the Cayman Finance New York Reinsurance Roundtable, again at the Harvard Club, where the Governor, Premier, and Ms Rivers spoke about the attractiveness of Cayman as a domicile for Reinsurance business. Minister Rivers told those present that the Cayman Islands is working to attract large scale reinsurance operations and noted that as a result, “there are now at least 10 sizeable reinsurance operations in Cayman, including four Class D Licenses”.

Premier Mclaughlin commented to those present, “My message to you today, as Cayman Islands Premier, is to say that my presence here, along with the Governor, the Minister of Financial Services  and the Attorney General, fully demonstrate the Cayman Islands Government’s full support for the continued development and growth of the reinsurance industry in our jurisdiction.”

The main event of the evening was the panel discussion that included professionals in the Reinsurance Market who spoke of the many benefits to their companies of being domiciled in the Cayman Islands, including the way the jurisdiction works with them to not only set up business, but to be successful.