Jude Scott, CEO of Cayman Finance, issued the following statement in response to reports of an illegal data theft involving the financial information of tens of thousands of people and businesses:
“Like other international financial centres, the Cayman Islands has had to get used to unfair and inaccurate reporting about our role in the global financial marketplace. However, we will not tolerate unfair attacks against our Queen, Elizabeth II, who maintains normal and legal investments in Cayman, a British Overseas Territory, a compliant and transparent jurisdiction that is part of her Dominion.
“From investors like Her Majesty to pensioners and university students, a very wide range of people benefit from investments in Cayman. Individuals as well as institutions such as government and state pension plans, regular pension funds and university endowments invest together in Cayman funds to access investment opportunities from around the world in a neutral location. We are home to funds advised by some of the most talented investment professionals in the world who help those investors increase their returns, which benefit retirees, students, communities and businesses – and on which they pay all relevant taxes in their own jurisdictions. Anyone who is in any doubt as to why such investors use Cayman should read the following summary from AIMA. These legal investments are no different than those that exist in places like London, New York, Frankfurt, Dublin, Luxembourg and Paris and are just as transparently reported to tax authorities.
“Cayman is a transparent, tax neutral jurisdiction and not a tax haven. Our legal, regulatory and legislative regimes clearly show we meet none of the definitions of a tax haven used by the OECD or leading transparency organizations. In addition, Cayman maintains a globally responsible tax regime that enables the free flow of trade, services, capital and financing around the world, and does so with transparent stated and actual applied tax rates, cooperation and without engaging in unfair tax practices.
“Cayman has signed agreements which allow tax information exchange with more than 90 countries, automatically shares tax data as part of the European Union Savings Directive, US FATCA and the Common Reporting Standard and has signed onto the country-by-country reporting principles under the BEPS process.
“Cayman investment and pension funds managed by UK managers help support thousands of legitimate and tax paying jobs in the UK financial services industry, an important pillar of the UK economy.”
