Government Details Its Response To FCA’s ‘High Risk’ List

Before the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its list of 'high risk countries' on 18 July, the Cayman Islands Government had written to authority officials to officially request a justification of the FCA's methodology, or an immediate correction.

Government sent the letter to the FCA on 8 July, after it learned days earlier that this list existed with Cayman on it and that it was to be released following an FOI request, said Minister of Financial Services Wayne Panton.

'Government is astounded that the UK would put Cayman on the list, as both Cayman and the UK have been rated equally in the OECD's 2013 Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes rankings', he said, noting that Cayman also ranked higher than most of the G8 countries.