Paradise Papers featured at Regional Compliance conference

Transparency in the Financial Services industry and the Paradise Papers were among key topics discussed today (16 November) at the 10th annual Caribbean Regional Compliance Association conference.
Hundreds of representatives from financial institutions around the Caribbean and the Americas gathered at the Kimpton for the event, Cayman 27’s Philipp Richter has this report.

President of the Cayman Islands Compliance Association and host of this year’s CRCA conference, Sandra Edun-Watler, says caution is key in today’s financial services industry.

“And so these things affect us because we do have cross border information that has been hacked into that we have to be careful of how we mind our data,” said Mrs. Edun-Watler.
She says even with the high level of transparency the local financial sector provides situations like the Paradise Papers casts a bad light on the Cayman Islands.

“This has a negative impact on any jurisdiction, it also means international press has a certain bias towards certain jurisdictions and so we’ve seen them glamorizing some of what’s been happening when there is nothing illegal that has actually occurred,” said Mrs. Edun-Watler.

She said the Cayman Islands does it’s best to prove its innocence, but it seems to fall on the deaf ears of the media.

“Because there is a perception and we have to keep fighting the perception, that’s hard when you give the facts and they are still glamorizing it and changing the perception of what really is the reality,” said Mrs. Edun-Watler.

But she said conferences like the regional meeting at Kimpton allows representatives from financial institutions from around the Caribbean and Americas to share insights and knowledge and counter those attacks.

“And so we are only as strong as our weakest link and this is one of the reasons to have a regional conference, we are at different levels in our walks within the international community, being financial services, so to make sure there is a repository of information that can help other jurisdictions as well as seeing issues that are faced,” she said.

The CRCA conference ends tomorrow (17 November.)