As a global centre of excellence for trusts, the Cayman Islands financial sector has serviced international clients for decades, providing modern, flexible and robust structures for wealth structuring, estate planning and commercial applications.
As a global centre of excellence for trusts, the Cayman Islands financial sector has serviced international clients for decades, providing modern, flexible and robust structures for wealth structuring, estate planning and commercial applications. Cayman offers a well-regulated, politically-stable and tax-neutral environment in which to form and administer a trust. While deriving originally from English law, Cayman’s Trusts Act has been reviewed and updated regularly over the past 50 or so years to ensure that it remains cutting-edge, competitive and appropriate to meet the evolving needs of a global client base.
The Cayman Islands stands out with its progressive and innovative legislation, and the Foundation Companies Act (enacted in 2017) is an excellent example of this. Foundation companies can be an attractive alternative to trusts, particularly for clients in civil law jurisdictions where a trust is often unfamiliar or the tax treatment of trusts uncertain. Foundation Companies are also commonly used as succession planning and asset protection vehicles, often to hold bespoke assets such as real estate or a yacht, or as part of private trust company and family office structures.
Cayman boasts a deep bench of specialist and experienced trustees, legal advisors, accountants, administrators, regulatory professionals and other service providers, and a highly regarded, reliable and independent judiciary and courts system. The Island’s trust industry is overseen by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), which is responsible for the licensing and supervision of regulated financial businesses, ensuring compliance with anti-money laundering and other regulatory laws, and liaising with its counterparts in other countries.With steady and dependable growth, trusts and foundation companies remain an important component of the financial services industry in Cayman. According to CIMA, as of March 2024, there were 132 Active Trust Licences, of which 56 were Full Trust Licences, 55 were Restricted Trust Licences and 21 were Nominee (Trust) Licences. In addition, there were 152 Private Trust Companies registered in Cayman as of the same date.
