By Mwangi Ngamate
mwangi@caymananetnews.com

The Cayman Islands government will continue to uphold the pillars of the financial services industry, namely, quality, stability, integrity, Premier Hon McKeeva Bush has said.

Speaking at a the opening of the conference on joint typologies for The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) a Joint Typology Exercise at the Ritz Carlton on Wednesday, Mr Bush said that these cornerstones are the driving force behind Cayman’s products and service offerings among trust and company service providers, fund administrators and money transmitters.

The three day conference that began on Wednesday ends today.

The Premier said that his government was serious on maintaining its reputation as a leading financial services centre.

“During the last forty years of building Cayman’s reputation as a leading financial services centre, we have reached significant milestones which have successfully placed us in line with international standards,” he said.

He gave numerous examples to justify this, since Cayman Islands was the first regionally, and among the first worldwide, to criminalise the laundering of the proceeds of all serious crimes, extending such legislation beyond the ambit of drug-money laundering.

“As required by international standards, the Cayman Islands has criminalised money laundering in accordance with the UN Vienna and Palermo Conventions and enforces a strong anti-money laundering regime,” Mr Bush said.

This is the first exercise in a series of workshops and roundtables where delegates will discuss challenges facing the organisation in the areas of money laundering and terrorist financing. Critical topics include trends and indicators, policy and global threat assessment (financial crisis), as well as operational issues.

“I am aware that this is the first exercise, and I certainly look forward to hearing more about the CFATF’s ongoing commitment in the fight against financial crime as the week progresses,” Mr Bush added.

The Premier noted that the meeting brings together policy makers and experts from across the world, demonstrates the organisation’s strengths and efforts to keep abreast of the latest trends and challenges.

“Much like the CFATF, the Cayman Islands Government, together with industry partners, has implemented measures to ‘fine-tune’ its international cooperation efforts and anti money laundering regime,” the Premier said.

He also noted that, as CFATF co-chair, the government is proud to uphold the pillars of the nation’s financial services industry in all aspects of commercial transactions.

As a founding member of the CFATF, he said that Cayman has undergone three peer review evaluations in addition to external evaluations by KPMG, the FATF and the IMF.

The meeting occurred at a special time when the Netherlands Antilles and the Kingdom of the Netherlands hold the Chair and Presidency of the CFATF and FATF respectively, and Cayman is expected to hold the CFATF Deputy Chair, according to an earlier press release by the CFATF.

The government supports the Project and the Kingdom of the Netherlands is in keeping with similar exercises that the FATF has conducted with other Associate Members/FATF Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs) and builds upon the CFATF’s Associate Member status with the FATF.