In the spring of 2006, at the request of its local members and the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, Mary Richardson of the Alternative Investment Management Association ventured from chilly London down to the sunny Caribbean to explore the opportunity and interest of forming an AIMA chapter in the Cayman Islands.
The timing for Mary and the Cayman Islands hedge fund industry could not have been better, as by mid-May AIMA's Cayman membership had jumped to nearly 40 corporate members, up from the previous mark of 13. The result was the creation of the seventh chapter within AIMA's global network, after those in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Africa, and the first in the Caribbean region.
Today, out of more than 1,100 AIMA members worldwide, the Cayman Islands chapter comprises 48 corporate members and an additional individual member. The latter has taken advantage of AIMA's unique provisions for independent directors, who may join the association and the Cayman chapter as individuals, as opposed to the customary corporate form of membership.
AIMA, the global trade association for hedge funds and related industries, provides a centre of knowledge for professional alternative investment practitioners by focusing on education, regulation and promotion of best practices. The overriding objective of all AIMA chapters is education, and naturally our focus in Cayman is to provide education and promote sound practices in the local alternative investment industry.
The AIMA Cayman chapter is dedicated to representing the islands' alternative investment community in addressing current issues affecting international and local industry participants, becoming the voice of the alternative investment industry in the Cayman Islands.
The alternative investment industry in Cayman was founded upon an active dialogue between the public and private sectors, which fostered innovation and knowledge sharing that allowed the industry to flourish locally. With the support of CIMA, the founding members of the Cayman chapter of AIMA have seized the opportunity to come together for the first time as a single industry body, under the umbrella of an internationally recognised organisation, to represent all parties involved in the investment fund sector.
Global interest in hedge funds and other forms of alternative investment has never been greater. Massive amounts of capital have poured into the alternative investment space in recent years, and currently there are more than 8,100 funds registered in Cayman, fuelled by annual growth of around 20 per cent over the past five years. The formation of the chapter is a notable and natural milestone, and a signal of AIMA's growing influence worldwide.
Cayman is the offshore jurisdiction of choice for the domiciliation of hedge funds, and with its wealth of experience and strong infrastructure, it plays an integral part in the global alternative investment industry. The chapter provides the ideal platform for the Cayman Islands hedge fund industry to make a unified contribution to the global hedge fund debate.
I look forward to the future of the alternative investment industry both globally and in the Cayman Islands with much optimism. As investment managers the world over continue to develop innovative strategies to capture superior returns, AIMA Cayman and its members remain strong drivers behind education and advancement of industry sound practices.