Premier says roadshow well received

Premier Hon McKeeva Bush has deemed his international road show, aimed at promoting the Cayman Islands as a first choice jurisdiction for financial services investors, a success. In his address to the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday 2 December on the recent roadshow by the Ministry of Finance, Tourism and Development to the UK, United States and Asia, Mr Bush said the key message made to the international financial community was that the Cayman Islands economy has held up well and remained robust while impacted by the global economic downturn.

Expressing his satisfaction at the success of the venture, Mr Bush said, “We had very good attendance at the events, as we were successful in attracting key players from the financial services industry in the respective countries.”

He said that the attendance at the events in Singapore and Hong Kong were remarkable. “We had a significant turnout at these events with well over 100 persons at the Singapore reception and almost 200 at the Hong Kong reception.”

He noted that the feedback from the receptions indicated that the representatives of the financial services industry appreciated the presence of the Cayman Islands delegation very much.

Mr Bush said that the Cayman Islands would also seek to increase their presence in Asia. “Asia is recognized as an important source of business and our key competitors are already promoting themselves and establishing a presence in Asia.”

“We can no longer afford to ignore Asia as it is fast becoming one of the most important regions when it come to financial services,” he said, noting that the evidence could be seen by the increasing number of law firms in Asia, including some of Cayman’s top law firms.

In addition to the Premier and members of the HSBC team, the road show included the Financial Secretary, Kenneth Jefferson; Chairman of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), George McCarthy; Attorney General, Samuel Bulgin and Consultant to the Ministry of Finance, Paul Byles.

He said that the delegation met with over 30 prospective investors in a series of one-on-one meetings.

He also said that Cayman has a robust strategy for economic recovery and long-term sustainability with over $2.5 billion worth of inward investment expected over the next 3- 5 years.

Mr Bush said that the delegation had seen some direct interest from firms looking to relocate to the Cayman Islands.

“We were able to promote our key messages to top decision makers in leading international financial services centres,” he said adding that Cayman now has a high quality database of professional contacts and key markets worldwide that will be used for marketing purposes and relationship building.