It’s been a busy two weeks for Deputy Premier André Ebanks, who has been leading a delegation of senior financial officials on a road trip that includes meetings in London, Brussels and New York.
Ebanks, who is also the minister for financial services and commerce, said in a statement about the UK and EU trip, “These very successful meetings gave our delegation informative insights on UK and EU positions and policies. They resulted in commitments to deeper engagement between the Cayman Islands and UK, and the EU, and we also provided our distinguished hosts and stakeholders strong messaging on policy developments in the Cayman Islands.”
Starting in the UK, Ebanks had briefings with journalists on 9 Sept., followed by a UK Parliamentary drop-in the next day. During that drop-in, a number of UK MP officials visited a room reserved in the Palace of Westminster, where the UK Parliament meets, to discuss topics ranging from anti-money laundering to cryptocurrency with the delegation.
“I thank UK MP Caroline Dinenage for sponsoring this opportunity,” Ebanks said.
On 11 Sept., Ebanks and delegation members, which included Cayman Islands Monetary Authority Managing Director Cindy Scotland, spoke with industry leaders during a Cayman Finance roundtable, and participated in the Maples London Investment Funds Forum 2024.
The roundtable discussion centred on funds and structured finance, but also gave representatives from Cayman Finance member firms in the UK the opportunity to hear directly from Ebanks and Scotland about the latest legislative initiatives, as well as regulatory and strategic plans concerning the financial services industry, a statement from Cayman Finance noted.
On 12 and 13 Sept., Ebanks, accompanied by Cayman’s deputy representative for financial services to Europe, Julie Campbell, travelled to Brussels to meet EU officials and EU member state representatives. These included directorates-general for the Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union and for the Taxation and Customs Union of the European Commission; the chair of the Code of Conduct Group and other officials from the Council of the European Union; as well as representatives from Hungary, which currently holds the presidency of the council, and Spain.
Ebanks and Campbell also met with representatives of the Channel Islands office “to exchange insights and updates”, the release noted.
It added that the deputy premier said the UK and EU discussions focused on policy developments in areas such as tax transparency, anti-money laundering and beneficial ownership information, digital finance and developing markets.
“These meetings provided an excellent opportunity to update stakeholders on the Cayman Islands’ latest regulatory advancements, including our new Beneficial Ownership Transparency Act,” he said.
“Equally important, we reinforced that the Cayman Islands is committed to being proactive, anticipating global standards in relation to AML/CFT and tax transparency, and maintaining a genuine dialogue. Ongoing engagement with the EU is essential to ensuring continued alignment and collaboration.”
Following the European trip, Ebanks headed to the US where he attended industry-arranged client meetings and was a speaker at the Cayman International Reinsurance Companies Association’s reinsurance roundtable and the Ogier Funds Symposium in New York.
Accompanying him on the US leg of the trip were his ministry’s head of advisory services in the Regulatory Affairs Unit, Duwayne Lawrence; CIMA’s head of Insurance Supervision Division Kara Ebanks and chief analyst Dane Doctor; Cayman International Reinsurance Companies Association’s chair David Self and representative Greg Mitchell; Insurance Managers Association of Cayman Chair Kieran Mehigan; and Cayman Finance’s CEO Steve McIntosh and associate director Samantha Widmer.
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