🌴 Cayman Islands begins anti-money laundering 'delisting' process in Europe and UK

The Cayman Islands is starting to be removed from various anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing, and counter-proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPF) lists after its removal from the Financial Action Task Force grey-list last month. The EU Commission has published a delegated regulation this week which signifies the first official step towards the Cayman Islands being removed from the EU's AML blacklist. The regulation is not yet in force, but the government expects further movement on this matter next month, following previous EU protocol. 📃

Financial Services Minister André Ebanks expressed satisfaction with the EU's move, attributing it to the sustained AML reforms and proactive engagement with EU officials. As of 5 December, the UK Government has officially removed the Cayman Islands from its list of high-risk third countries for AML/CFT/CPF purposes, following the removal of the Cayman Islands from the FATF AML list in October 2023. Ebanks also revealed that the Cayman Islands should soon be removed from a less significant list in the US, effectively clearing the jurisdiction from all lists impacting the offshore sector. 🏛️

Addressing the issue of Cayman’s overseas offices, Ebanks disclosed that Chris Duggan, Cayman’s representative in Washington, had resigned but an acting representative was in place and recruitment for a new one was underway. He also mentioned that the Asia office space had been identified and was progressing, albeit with some bureaucratic hurdles to overcome. 🌏