In October, Financial Services Minister André Ebanks hailed a “tremendous achievement” for Cayman, following news that the jurisdiction would be removed form the global Financial Action Task Force’s ‘grey list’.
Ebanks told the Compass that coming off the grey list was a critical step that will help safeguard the government’s ability to fund the running of the jurisdiction and meet the needs of its people.
He was speaking in the wake of the decision from the FATF to remove Cayman from a watch list of countries under increased monitoring for not doing enough to fight money laundering and terror financing.
Following a years-long effort across two governments, the decision was announced on Friday, 27 Oct., following a three-day meeting of the FATF Plenary in Paris.
The decision is a major win, not just for the financial services sector, but also for the islands as a whole. Fees from the industry fund up to half of the billion-dollar annual expenditure of the Cayman Islands government, according to some estimates.
Ebanks said a prolonged period on the grey list or, in the worst-case scenario, being blacklisted as a rogue country, would have had serious ramifications for the reputation of Cayman as a credible place to do business.
Reduced international financial services business could have seriously impacted the government’s bottom line, he said.
Cayman now faces another assessment in 2025, where it theoretically could face new recommendations.
If Cayman continues to keep abreast of the global standards in anti-money laundering compliance and demonstrates it is doing its part to stop the flow of dirty cash around the world, it should stay off the grey list.
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