British MP's Praise the CaymanIslands
Reproduced by kind permission of theRoyal Gazette at http://www.accessbda.bm
British Members of Parliament ended a fact-findingmission in the Cayman Islands with praise for financial regulationin the British territory, whose offshore banking industry hascome under international pressure.
Labour MP Fraser Kemp said the bipartisan delegation had "delvedinto (financial regulation) and clearly the regulatory regimeis a lot tougher than the outside world perceives it to be."
The delegates, guests of the Cayman Parliamentary Association,ended their five-day visit late last week Tuesday.
John McFall, Labour MP from Dumbarton and leader of the six-mandelegation, said the group heard a number of concerns from executiveand legislative officials regarding the 1999 white paper "partnershipfor progress" for British overseas
territories.
The policy statement, which also dealt with citizenship issues,constitutional modernisation, environmental protection and humanrights, called for tightening of financial regulations in Britain'sterritories.
McFall said that among the biggest concerns raised during thevisit was the fear that Britain could unilaterally remove Caymanbanking secrecy laws that have helped make the western Caribbeanterritory the world's fifth-largest banking centre.
The Caymans, with approximately 50,000 people, have 572 registeredbanks and trust companies with more than $490 billion on deposit.Most of the work force is employed in either the financial ortourism industries.
Recent international criticism has put the Cayman financial communityon the defensive. In June, the Financial Action Task Force, aGroup of Seven watchdog, put the Caymans on a blacklist of jurisdictionsit said lacked adequate controls to deal with criminal money laundering.
The Cayman Islands avoided inclusion on an Organisation for EconomicCooperation and Development (OECD) blacklist of tax havens inJuly by pledging to meet OECD standards in three to five years.