Since its foray into financial services more than four decades ago, the Cayman Islands has grown into a leading global financial services centre supported by a sound legal and regulatory framework, world-class infrastructure, and high quality service providers.

The Cayman Islands is one of the world's leading providers of institutionally focused, specialised financial services and a preferred destination for the structuring and domiciling of sophisticated financial services products.

Cayman provides an attractive environment for portfolio investment. It plays an important role in global markets by facilitating the flow of capital and lowering the cost of doing business. The Cayman Islands distinguishes itself from other jurisdictions by offering a diverse range of products and services that extend well beyond its tax-neutral status.

– Kurt Schacht, Managing Director, CFA Centre for Financial Market Integrity

As a financial services centre with a modern regulatory framework, structural flexibility, and solid public-private sector cooperation, the Cayman Islands has demonstrated its ability to move quickly in adapting to the changing needs of the financial services industry and its varied stakeholders. Examples include:

• A flexible and risk-based regulatory framework for funds has played a key role in the significant growth of the global funds industry. Today, more than 9,800 hedge funds are registered in the Cayman Islands, representing an estimated 60-80 percent of the global market.
• The Cayman Islands Segregated Portfolio Company (SPC) is a corporate structure that protects investors in the same fund structure from cross-liability whilst reducing administrative costs for fund operators. The SPC has found use in both the funds and captive insurance industries.
• Cayman is a global leader in the establishment of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs).
• The General Registry of the Cayman Islands Government introduced an Arabic language facility to enable registration and other certificates to be issued. This enhancement was introduced as a result of the growing recognition of Cayman Islands institution's expertise in structuring “sukuks,” bond issues that comport with Shari'a law. The General Registry executes company registrations in Cantonese and Mandarin.
• CIMA has e-filing capability for funds – the first of its kind. This initiative enhances fund data collection and statistical reporting of activity within Cayman's fund industry.