After another successful year facilitating improved international awareness of Cayman's financial services sector, the Cayman Islands Financial Services Association is looking to build further on this raised profile by increasing its membership in the Cayman Islands.
The Annual General Meeting held in August last year, was the first meeting CIFSA has had since changing its membership structure. It is the support of members that funds CIFSA and annual membership fees are now based on the number of employees in a firm, in similar fashion to the Chamber of Commerce and the Cayman Islands Bankers Association. This is in contrast to the original structure where CIFSA relied on contributions from the associations and individual firms in the financial industry.
Private industry member firms are now counted in double figures, with the cream of Caymans financial services sector represented. Deloitte, Scotia Bank & Trust, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Cayman National Bank, HSBC and KPMG are all members, as are Walkers, CIBC, Royal Bank of Canada, Appleby Hunter Bailhache, Butterfield Bank and Ogier. CIFSAs aim is to attract every financial services firm in Cayman and once that happens, it will be a truly representative industry body for businesses of all sizes.
Now into its third year, CIFSA has played an important part in its role as an interface for the international media, responding to questions and enquiries, arranging and conducting interviews and writing articles. Just like other successful offshore financial centres, the Cayman Islands has been the target for some unfair and misinformed criticism about the activities taking place.
This was essentially the reason for CIFSA's formation, allowing the private sector a method to supplement efforts by the government to respond to and correct reporting which might be more inspired by John Grisham novels than fact. The balance has shifted, thanks partially to CIFSA and now there is significant interaction with the international press and the Cayman Islands has enjoyed some particularly impressive coverage in some well respected publications.
This is important because all offshore centres compete with one another and many of Cayman's rivals for international business had already set up similar organisations. The press coverage is just part of the key successes that CIFSA has achieved so far this year, with recent articles in International Custody and Fund Administration, Financial World, The Banker and Investor Services Journal to name but a few. The special report in The Banker this summer painted a particularly upbeat picture of the financial industry in Cayman, detailing its leadership in the hedge funds sector and its strength across- the- board in this industry, while praising the country for the robustness of its anti- money laundering regulations.
CIFSA also has an important part to play domestically, sending out press releases to the local media, detailing successes for the industry and other important news.
Within media relations, CIFSA's website, www.caymanfinances.com, has proved to be a real highlight, which is particularly evident from the visitor statistics. In the first six months of 2006, CIFSA's website recorded 12,000 unique visitors, with 600,000 hits and over a million hits are expected over the course of this year. These numbers clearly outline the value of information provided by CIFSA and any journalist looking to write an article on financial services in Cayman has a focal point for information, with contact details to ask questions.
As well as carrying all the press releases, the website has background information about the various financial services sectors, updates on recent regulatory changes, as well as important speeches and details of conferences and training events taking place in the Cayman Islands. There are also now well over 250 subscribers to CIFSA's 'Hot Alert' email update, which puts important breaking news directly into interested parties' inboxes. The website, meanwhile, is linked to a number of international directories and other relevant websites, further boosting the profile of Cayman's most important industry.
Conferences provide an excellent opportunity for CIFSA to spread the positive message about the Cayman Islands and directors have been involved in speaking roles at a number of events, such as the Florida International Bankers Association conference and there are plenty more planned. Locally, the media room at the successful Cayman Islands Bankers Association conference was sponsored by CIFSA.
Overall, CIFSA has gone from strength to strength since its inception and its impact has become greater as its membership has increased. Already enjoying a number of important successes in 2006, as additional members come on stream from Cayman's financial services community, this work will continue, communicating and promoting the integrity and quality of this country's financial services sector.