New Regulatory Chiefs In UK And US: Implications For Cayman

On 1st April the new UK "Twin Peaks" regulatory regime was launched. The much criticised FSA was replaced with the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") and the Prudential Regulatory Authority ("PRA"). Martin Wheatley, the FCA's chief executive has publicly criticised the approach of the former FSA as "robotic" and a more challenging UK regulatory climate is widely anticipated. Meanwhile in the US Mary Jo White was sworn in as the new SEC Chair on 10 April having promised the Senate Banking Committee that she would aggressively pursue wrongdoing. One of the reactions to the financial crisis in both major financial centres is more aggressive regulation. This has implications for the Cayman Islands whose own regulator, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority ("CIMA"), has entered into wide ranging memoranda of understanding with the SEC, FCA and PRA under which CIMA undertakes to lend its own coercive powers to obtain information and testimony for the US and UK regulators