Cayman Islands soon to be back in business

by Ross Sheil

Friday, September 17, 2004

HE The Governor Bruce Dinwiddy said support and regulatory government agencies such as the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) and the Companies Registry will be operating by Monday and several retail banks should be open next week.

His comments came after he held meetings with a cross-section of the Islands' commerce sector on Tuesday.

He said: “The infrastructure of the financial sector is mostly intact, including records and data. Once we have power back in George Town, expected by the end of this week, the financial services industry will be back in action.

“It is astonishing how much we have already achieved in the 36 hours in the aftermath of Ivan. We are very, very confident that the Cayman Islands will regain its competitive vibrancy. We are going to be back in business soon,” he added.

Mr Dinwiddy said there was a huge amount of professional expertise on the Island that was now being offered to government in encouraging and dynamic collaborative efforts.

Collaboration between Government and private sector will include "captains" of the financial industry and the key stakeholders representing electricity, water, food, fuel, shelter, transport and heavy equipment, security and other matters.

The initiative was spearheaded by law firm Appleby, Spurling, Hunter Managing Partner Hugh Moses.

He said the collaboration came about after the company converted parts of its Mary Street Offices into a makeshift shelter for stranded persons in the area.

Mr Moses: “Overnight, we broke out into industry groups to begin to consider the larger picture,” which he said was to assist Government in becoming operational again.

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