CIMA creates new top jobs

(CNS): The creation of three new senior positions at the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has led to the promotion of Langston Sibblies, CIMA’s General Counsel since 2000, to the post of Deputy Managing Director (DMD) – General Counsel.  Making the announcement yesterday, (18 September) the Authority said that the appointment had actually become effective more than a month earlier on 1 August 2008. 

CIMA said as DMD Sibblies will have direct oversight responsibility for three divisions: Legal, Policy and Development, and Compliance. He will also assist the Managing Director with the supervision of matters pertaining to CIMA’s policies and general management.

The appointment follows a reorganisation that has resulted in the creation of three DMD posts, each responsible for a separate set of functions of the Authority although appointments to this new posts have to be made. These include DMD (Supervision) which will oversee the Banking, Fiduciary, Insurance, and Investments and Securities divisions and  DMD (Operations) responsible for the Currency Division and the Finance, Information Systems and Human Resources units.

Managing DirectorCindy Scotland said that given Sibblies contribution to CIMA he was a natural choice for this senior role. “I look forward to working with him within this new structure, which has been adopted to ensure that CIMA is able to continue to increase its efficiency and effectiveness as the financial industry that we regulate expands,” she added.

In his capacity as CIMA’s General Counsel Sibblies has been responsible for the provision of legal advice to, and assisting in litigation on behalf of, the Authority and the drafting of legal documentation for the Authority. He has represented the Cayman Islands and CIMA in various meetings with regulatory and standard setting bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and has delivered relevant papers on the regulation of the Cayman Islands’ financial industry at several local and international forums.

Commenting on his new position Sibblies said he was pleased to be able to continue to serve the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority in an enhanced role. “CIMA has in place a strong management team with a good mix of experience and expertise which augurs well for the future," he noted.

With over 30 years’ experience in the Caribbean and Canada Sibblies’ previous posts have included: Crown Counsel (Cayman Islands), Senior Crown Counsel (British Virgin Islands), Legislative Policy Counsel (Ontario), Director of Public Prosecutions (Grenada), and Executive Director of the Cayman Islands Government Portfolio of Finance and Development’s Secretariat, dealing with various international initiatives impacting on Cayman’s financial industry. He has worked as a law editor with a leading Canadian tax and business law publisher and as a private lawyer in Jamaica and in Toronto, Ontario. He is currently the Chairman of the Law Reform Commission of the Cayman Islands.

Meanwhile some young people have also been getting a taste for life at CIMA under its internship programme. One of them, Harvey Stephenson Jr. is now a second year student at Brown University, Rhode Island, majoring in applied mathematics – economics was under the supervision of Sibblies, Harvey where he acquired some experience in research related tasks. “Most of my work revolved around Mr. Sibblies’ research needs, both legal and policy-based topics,” Stephenson said. “Aside from the basics of where to look for the desired information, I gained a much better understanding of how to present the most relevant research in the most efficient way possible under time constraints. CIMA was the perfect place to learn.”

Five other local students from School and university spent summer with CIMA all looking to pursue different career objectives. Melesia Webster, who was with CIMA for the third summer running was placed as an Investment and Securities Analyst which s=he said helped enormously with her economics major. Another veteran intern is Arikka Ebanks who has worked at CIMA for the past four summers. She recently completed her International Baccalaureate and plans to earn her Bachelor’s in law and study forensic accounting. Her supervisor, Robert-James Berry, Head of the Compliance Division said she had  progressed and developed a lot.”She excels more and more in the tasks she performs every year,” he said.

 Tara Abdul-Jabbar, Assistant Human Resources Manager, who is in charge of the placement of students, sais the goal is to provide the students with exposure to their area of interest, give them an opportunity to interact with people from a variety of divisions and let them see how CIMA operates and for CIMA it is a chance to identify and groom potential future employees.

“Dealing with and solving work place problems is experience the students cannot gain at school. This is one of the biggest benefits of the internship programme,” said Abdul-Jabbar. “The hands-on experience the students get here at CIMA is useful to us and gives them a concrete understanding of the business environment, which they can relate to in the classroom. It is a good point of reference for them."