GRAND CAYMAN (Friday, 20 February 2009) – The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has formally established bilateral ties with the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).
Heads of the two financial-services regulators sealed the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in a signing ceremony at CIMA on Wednesday (18 February). This agreement – which boosts the number of MOUs and similar accords which CIMA has with international counterparts to 14 – will govern cooperation and the exchange of information between the organisations; something that had already been taking place on an informal basis.
Signing on behalf of the MFSA, Chairman and President Professor Joseph Bannister said: “This is just a matter of formalising that relationship as Malta has a policy of signing MOUs with other financial-services jurisdictions.
“We have always had good relations with Cayman and exchanged information freely. Information has always been provided to us when required regardless of whatever sector of the financial-services industry it has been.”
MFSA was established in 2002 as the single regulator for financial services activities in Malta. It regulates and supervises credit and financial institutions, investment, trust and insurance business and also houses the country's Companies Registry. In addition, MFSA, like CIMA, complies with the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision and is a member of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS). The MFSA has membership in the International Organization of Investment Securities Commission (IOSCO), as well as the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR). It has also signed at least 17 bilateral MOUs with regulators in other jurisdictions including United Kingdom (UK), Dubai, Bermuda, Jersey, Isle of Man, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal and Mauritius.
CIMA's Managing Director Cindy Scotland concurred with her Maltese counterpart, noting that CIMA has received a significant number of requests for assistance from MFSA in the past.
“We are pleased to formally recognise the bond of cooperation that has existed for some time and we look forward to continuing that. This MOU will create a framework that will facilitate greater mutual assistance between us – the regulators of financial services in Cayman and Malta – with regard to effectively carrying out our duties,” said Mrs. Scotland.
In addition to Malta, CIMA has MOUs and other information-exchange agreements with financial regulators in Jersey, Canada, Brazil, the U.S.A. (the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission), the U.K. (the Financial Services Authority), the Isle of Man, Bermuda, Jamaica, and Panama. There is also a multi-lateral MOU with eight Caribbean regulators. All the agreements can be viewed in the Regulatory Framework / International Agreements section of CIMA’s website: http://www.cimoney.com.ky/section/regulatoryframework/default.aspx?id=150.