Bush woos Chinese investment

A number of changes that government
hopes will make the Cayman Islands more attractive to business investment are
being drawn up, according to Premier McKeeva Bush.

Those include something called a
Chinese Investment Certificate – apparently aimed at encouraging investors from
the Far East.

Premier Bush gave no specifics of
the proposal after mentioning it on the floor of the Legislative Assembly.
However, he spoke at some length during a public meeting last Tuesday regarding
the need for Cayman to expand to different markets.

Mr. Bush recently travelled to
China for an international finance conference hosted by the Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development, and also reopened Cayman’s liaison office
in Hong Kong.

“We have to look at what is happening
[in China] because that is where the wealth is being created,” Mr. Bush told
some 200 people at a public meeting at the Bodden Town Civic Centre on Tuesday,
adding that Jersey and the British Virgin Islands had opened financial services
liaison offices for their territories in Hong Kong when Cayman’s was closed
down.

“We were told [by industry
representatives in Hong Kong] ‘you are behind, Cayman,’” Mr. Bush said Tuesday.

Speaking to the more general goal
of attracting business worldwide, Mr. Bush said Cayman would have to look
toward redomiciling actual business offices to the Islands, not simply
registering addresses for taxation purposes.

“If we don’t get an office with
people, just a name on the door is not going to work,” he said.

To that end, the government would
seek to fine-tune its current certificate of direct investment to offer the
25-year residency certificate to owners, and high-level executives of financial
services businesses, aiming to entice those individuals to move their operations
to Cayman.

Mr. Bush said the Immigration
Department would also exempt people attending business meetings in Cayman from
the need to apply for a work permit to do so. This exemption includes
directors, shareholders and strategy meetings – but not direct sales or other
commercial ventures. 

High net-worth visitors who travel
with attending household helpers, cooks and the like will also be allowed to
keep those individuals with them here for up to three months during any one
year.

The 25-year residency certificate
currently granted to people of independent financial means will still be
available, but the minimum investment required to apply for that certificate is
being reduced from CI$750,000 to CI$650,000. The certificate will also be
varied to allow that individual to work in a particular job if that job is
determined to be necessary in the Cayman Islands.

Real estate investors who put their
money into projects worth at least US$2 million will be offered permanent
residency rights upon payment of a one-time fee of $100,000 to government.
Previously, that minimum investment was CI$150,000.

“This will entitle the
[certificate] holder and his/her spouse and any dependent children the right to
permanently reside in the Cayman Islands,” Mr. Bush said, adding that some real
estate investors could be offered the right to work in particular “sophisticated
areas” of financial services or other professions.

“Cayman must be the place from
where business is done,” Mr. Bush said. “For our financial community to survive
and to continue to employ many Caymanians at good wages and with added
benefits, we need to attract more of the transactional business.”

While addressing the proposals
during Wednesday’s Legislative Assembly meeting, Premier Bush said he intended to
replace some of the current appointees on the country’s immigration boards because
they were not following administration directives in assisting private sector
companies. Mr. Bush has threatened to do that on a number of previous
occasions.

“I’m tired of begging,’ Mr. Bush
said.