The Cayman Islands has a special place in the popular mythology of offshore jurisdictions, not least because of author John Grisham’s best-selling novel The Firm, a tale of crooked lawyers, deception and murder. In the book, the Cayman Islands are where the villains do their dirty work, playing up to the caricature of offshore financial centres as hives of tax dodgers and criminals on the run.
In reality, the Cayman Islands’ lawmakers and regulators have positioned the jurisdiction as something altogether different, going further than most other financial centres to meet international standards on governance, regulation and supervision, while still maintaining regulatory proportionality and flexibility. Benefiting from its close proximity to the US (less than 800 km almost due south of Miami); links to the UK as an overseas territory; supportive, business-friendly legal framework; and a stable political and economic environment, the Cayman Islands have grown into the world’s fifth largest financial centre.
