The Cayman Islands has been a popular tourist, recreation and business destination for many years. Beautiful beaches, spectacular dive sites, high quality modern hotels and tropical weather combine to attract the tourists in large numbers year after year.

This article summarises the methods of establishing investment funds in the Cayman Islands and highlights the principal legal and regulatory considerations. It is not intended to deal exhaustively with all aspects of the subject and proper legal advice should be obtained before proceeding with the establishment of a particular fund.

The Cayman Islands Stock Exchange (the "CSX") commenced operations in July 1997 and currently lists more than 1,000 issues with aggregate capitalisation in excess of US$80bn, including investment funds, specialist debt and derivative warrants.

The Cayman Islands have become the leading offshore jurisdiction in the funds industry and are currently home to more than 6,500 registered open-ended funds and many unregulated closed-ended or exempted funds.

Companies may be registered in the Cayman Islands as exempted, ordinary (subdivided into resident and non-resident) and foreign. There were approximately 76,000 companies registered in the Cayman Islands at the end of 2004 of which 73% were exempted, 18% ordinary non-resident, 7% ordinary resident and 2% foreign.

This article highlights certain considerations and advantages for entities carrying out securities investment business in or from the Cayman Islands.

This article summarises the principal legal and procedural considerations relating to the registration of ships on the Cayman Islands Shipping Register.