CIFSA Chairman Anthony Travers (centre) with Jack Quinn (left) and Manuel Ortiz of Quinn Gillespie and Associates.

A gala dinner hosted at the Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman on 7 July by the Cayman Islands Financial Services Association (CIFSA) featured special guest speakers Jack Quinn and Manuel Ortiz of the Washington lobbying firm Quinn Gillespie and Associates.

The bipartisan public affairs firm has been appointed by CIFSA to advance the interests of the Cayman Islands financial services industry.

Describing the results of this effort thus far as encouraging, Mr Quinn outlined in detail the approaches made to policy makers and the media.

CIFSA scheduled a full itinerary for Mr Quinn and Mr Ortiz during their intensive four-day visit to the Cayman Islands.

The lobbyists attended briefings with the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, senior officials of the Cayman Islands Government and CIFSA.

Mr Quinn said, “It was very important to us to meet with key stakeholders in Cayman’s financial services sector.”

He continued, “These meetings have enabled us to further develop essential relationships and add depth to our understanding of how this jurisdiction conducts business. We are delighted to have had these opportunities and feel very positive about what we have seen and heard.”

Mr Quinn and Mr Ortiz also met with the CIFSA board of directors and International Advisory Board, the principal driver behind the association’s international public relations efforts.

CIFSA Chairman, Anthony Travers, said, “CIFSA’s main objective for this visit was to raise the profile locally of the challenges facing Cayman’s financial services industry and to describe the strategies now being employed to address them.”

He added, “I am satisfied that the visit achieved the desired outcome. We will be entering into discussions now with the Cayman Islands Government to discuss how the public relations initiatives should best develop.”

The impact of the troubled political and economic climate in which the Cayman Islands currently operate as an Offshore Financial Centre (OFC) has been well documented in recent months.

The industry faces competition from other OFCs, which have secured inclusion on the OECD’s white list of offshore jurisdictions.

CIFSA has been engaged in rebutting widespread misconceptions about the role of OFCs in the global financial crisis and on better explaining President Obama’s well-publicised focus on the role of offshore jurisdictions.

Quinn Gillespie & Associates enjoys an enviable reputation as one of Washington’s leading public affairs firms. The firm and its members are consistently recognised as being among Washington’s most influential and effective lobbyists by prestigious publications such as The Washington Post, Fortune and the National Journal. Mr Quinn and Mr Ortiz are also frequent political commentators on television and radio.

Mr Quinn has been a long-time advisor to Democratic leaders and has served as strategist to numerous Democratic campaigns and as White House Counsel to US President Clinton.

Mr Ortiz is a leading strategist and widely recognised as one of the capital’s top lobbyists. He is a former campaign manager for Senator John Kerry and was nominated along with Jack Quinn as one of Washington’s top lobbyists by the capital’s popular political newspaper, The Hill.

CIFSA was founded in November 2003 to represent Cayman’s financial services industry and to promote the jurisdiction as a quality international financial services centre.

A not-for-profit association, CIFSA is funded by its private sector members. The CIFSA board and membership comprises the Islands’ key associations including: the Cayman Islands Society of Professional Accountants (CISPA), the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), the Cayman Islands Fund Administrators Association (CIFAA), the Company Managers Association (CICMA), the Bankers Association (CIBA) and the Insurance Managers Association (IMAC). CIFSA seeks to work alongside these associations to ensure that promotion of the jurisdiction is consistent and effective.