Cayman’s representative to the US and Canada Chris Duggan is stepping down from his role and is set to leave at the end of February.
Duggan, in an interview with the Cayman Compass Friday, confirmed his unexpected departure.
He said he is in the final stages of handing over leadership of Cayman’s first government office in Washington, DC after tendering his resignation in December.
Recruitment to begin
A Ministry of Financial Services and Commerce spokesperson, in response to Cayman Compass queries on the matter, said that while the ministry doesn’t usually comment on employment matters, they could confirm that Duggan had resigned, and that “a recruitment process will be conducted in accordance with the Public Service Management Act”.
His departure from the helm of the office, which formally opened one year ago Friday after delays when the former PACT administration took office, is one of three changes happening at Cayman’s once contentious foreign offices.
The other changes include the recent appointment of Julie Campbell as government’s overseas representative for the EU, based in the London office.
She took over from Deborah Bodden, who passed away suddenly last September.
The third change is the creation of a board of directors for Cayman’s Asia office, which will be chaired by attorney and former MP Winston Connolly.
That office is being led by Gene DaCosta, who is government’s representative for financial services in the UK/EU, and in Asia.
Departs on good terms
Duggan, speaking on his departure said, while there were “teething pains” in the early days in his new role for the government, they were “working things out as we went along”, adding that “certainly [there was] nothing that drove me away”.
He said he was happy to get the office up and running and was pleased to have served in his capacity as the US and Canada representative.
“It took a lot longer to get going than we had hoped and planned, but… [it’s] been going really good, I’ve enjoyed the role. I really developed some great relationships in the United States, obviously specifically in Washington DC, both on the public sector side and on the private sector side to advance the interests of the Cayman Islands,” he said.
He said his decision to cut his contract short was one that he did not take lightly, but he was presented with an offer he could not turn down.
“There was no one specific thing that said ‘Right, I’m out of here.’ It was really just a personal decision after a great opportunity came up” that he wasn’t sure would still be available in a couple of years, he said.
Duggan said he thought long and hard about the offer and, together with his family, made the decision that “this is best for us long term”.
“There was only ever a five-year fixed-term contract with the government. So in two years, I was inevitably going to be moving on anyway,” he said. Duggan was first appointed to the role in 2021, though the office didn’t officially open until last year.
In March, Duggan will be returning to the banking sector as the head of Caribbean banking for RBC which will be based in Nassau.
Cayman Asia office created as company
Meanwhile, the ministry spokesperson has confirmed that Cayman’s Asia Office will be based in Singapore, and called the Cayman Islands Government Office Asia (Pte.) Ltd.
In explaining the reason for creating a board of directors for the office, the spokesperson said that to comply with Singaporean laws, “it was necessary for the Cayman Islands Government to form a company under which the Asia Office would fall”.
The company was formed last year, with Connolly named director and chair, and the ministry will announce the opening date “as soon as possible”, the spokesperson said.
The Asia office, as with all of the overseas offices, “is intended to underpin the strong links between Cayman and our key business regions by promoting our country’s interests and initiatives, and to support, where appropriate, Caymanians residing overseas in these respective regions”, the spokesperson said.
Connolly said he was happy to take up the post since he has a client base there and was familiar with the inner workings of financial services in that region.
“I think that it’s a very good move to finally have a body in that neck of the woods because… even though Singapore has made big strides in enabling legislation to try to keep some of that business in Singapore, Cayman still is the jurisdiction of choice when it comes to financial services,” he said.
Connolly said, in particular for private equity funds and traditional hedge funds, Cayman “needs to be on the ground there and to be able to facilitate that business to Cayman”.
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