During the 17 Nov. session of the parliamentary finance committee, MP Chris Saunders questioned the $1.375 million annual government funding allocated to Cayman Finance.
Saunders, an independent MP who represents Bodden Town West, queried why the organisation has seen a steady increase in funding.
“I’ve been in this House long enough to remember when [Cayman Finance] was getting [around] $300,000 per year from government,” said Saunders. “So basically, it’s been like a million-dollar increase.”
As a comparison, while Cayman Finance is set to receive $1.375 million in 2026, Jersey Finance was allocated $6.436 million from the government of Jersey in 2024.
Saunders emphasised that he wasn’t criticising the “good work” of Cayman Finance. Rather he questioned who should pay for it, highlighting that its private-sector member firms are companies “with very deep pockets”.
Saunders specifically highlighted the six Class A banks in Cayman, who he claimed made $752 million in profit in 2024. “This is about protecting their industry that makes a lot of them very rich and they should be contributing a lot more to Cayman Finance because they benefit from it more in some cases than the Caymanian people.”
Cayman Finance – an investment or a cost?
In his response, Premier André Ebanks, who is also the minister for financial services and commerce, noted the government was allocating Cayman Finance less than it had requested. Ebanks said the original request was “in the region of millions of dollars”.
He said the government funds Cayman Finance because it wants the organisation to promote the islands’ financial services by attending conferences; protect the jurisdiction by fighting back against inaccurate international stories; and engage with the community to help young Caymanians get jobs with member firms.
Yet Saunders continued to query one particular aspect of the government’s purchase agreement with Cayman Finance – private-sector engagement. “Why are we giving them $205,896 each year to deal with their private-sector firms and association engagement?” asked Saunders. “Their members should be paying for it themselves.”
Value for money
For its part, Cayman Finance has consistently been vocal in justifying the impact it delivers. “Cayman Finance has made significant strides in raising the profile of our financial services, but with increased support, we can amplify our efforts and further solidify our position as a world-class financial centre,” said Cayman Finance CEO Steve McIntosh earlier this year.
A spokesperson for the organisation also confirmed that it has widened its base of private-sector funding and now has more than 150 members, up from 46 in 2015.
In September, Cayman Finance released the results of a report that it commissioned from UK-headquartered consultancy Capital Economics, that revealed the financial services industry directly contributed 45% of government revenue in 2024. When indirect impact is included the industry’s share of the government’s income increased to 65%.
Related Videos
I’m yet to meet anybody, Caymanian or non-Caymanian, in the private sector who agrees with any of Anglin’s decisions. He takes but doesn’t give and it’s crystal clear that he and Michael Myles have unjust animosity towards expats.
Cayman Finance is doing a great job of marketing the jurisdiction and it helps to generate government revenue. It needs more government funding, not less. In comparison to the tourism sector, the vaCay tourism campaign alone recently cost $12 million. That sector generates far less revenue for government and employs far fewer Caymanians, pollutes our beaches, yet here we are arguing about a tenth of that cost towards a sector that directly generates close to half of government revenue year-on-year, and kept Cayman out of financial hardship throughout covid.
Anglin appears intent on making short-term gains without offering anything in return, or considering a broader view of the long-term impacts on the economy. I’m not sure he is qualified for to be Finance Minister.
Ah yes, the brilliant Saunders, along with Ebanks and Myles and Anglin. Let’s completely discount how many scholarships and jobs Cayman finance has placed locals into.
Saunders wanting to cut funding on probably the most important organization in helping place Caymanians in jobs rather than increase the money towards it. With all the terrible spending in the government like Cayman Airways being run terribly and the budget for tourism which hardly makes money in comparison to finance but instead let’s try to cut Cayman finance.
These four government officials bright minds shine through week after week with innovative ideas to drag Cayman down from a first class finance hub to the next Haiti unfortunately. On top of that, they want to implement socialism like Mandami of NYC. Trying to give jobs to any local who is breathing but may not be qualified for a job meanwhile they can’t fix the bus routes in Cayman to be timely. Even these government roles aren’t based on merit and qualifications if we look at who is leading it.