Cayman’s Financial Reporting Authority reported higher case intake, more analysis and stronger sanctions activity as the jurisdiction prepares for the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force review in 2027.
The authority, which plays a key role as Cayman’s financial intelligence unit, was criticised in the 2019 task force evaluation as part of “fundamental shortcomings that prevent timely disclosures by the FRA”.
Yet its 2025 Annual Report, which was tabled before Parliament by Attorney General Samuel Bulgin on Tuesday 23 June, showed that the authority “initiated analysis” on 1,587 cases in 2025, up from 1,326 in 2024. The authority managed to close 1,144 cases in 2025, up from 1,107 in 2024.
The time taken to disclose information to local law enforcement remained flat, with 51% of disclosures being made within 35 days of the authority receiving the suspicious activity report. But the average time to complete overseas requests improved to 42 days from 45.
The FRA, which is responsible for receiving, requesting, analysing and disseminating financial information disclosures concerning proceeds of criminal conduct, received 1,532 cases in 2025, up from 1,395 cases in 2024.
More regulation, more work
Cayman’s recent anti-money laundering regulation also increased the workload as it gave firms another reason to contact the authority.
Bulgin told parliament the Financial Reporting Authority spent a “substantial amount of time” implementing Cayman’s new Defence Against Money Laundering consent regime, which came into force on 2 Jan. 2025. Under the new rules, a firm that has filed a report but still wants to proceed with the transaction can ask the authority for consent. The first year of the regime produced 517 consent requests for the authority to process.
Sanctions were another source of extra work, with the authority publishing 111 financial sanctions notices in 2025, up from 102 in 2024. Formal Russia sanctions licence applications rose to 23, from 13.
Bulgin told Parliament it had been “another challenging year” for the sanctions implementation team because of the “size, scale and complexity” of Russia-related measures.
But despite signs that the authority is working harder, not all of the stats were positive. A key metric for the authority is the number of intelligence disclosures – like instances when it passes financial information to law enforcement, competent authorities or its international peers – it makes each year.
Domestic disclosures dropped to 284 in 2025, down from 449 in 2024, while international disclosures dropped to 254 in 2025, from 519 in 2024.
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