Mac: Investors show interest
(CNS): With the first leg of his Cayman road show behind him, the new premier has said that the incentive package he is promoting to the financial services industry has received some promising feedback. Although McKeeva Bush said the trip to London and several US cities had not been easy, it was not all doom and gloom. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly in the first session following the signing of the new Constitution, Bush criticised those who, he said, were twisting the immigration policy changes which were designed to encourage business and investment back to Cayman.
“I am amazed that these adjustments are being twisted around by people with political motives,” he said. The only tool Cayman had to fight the recession was to encourage business and investment to Cayman, Bush added, and said that was what the new policies were all about. Cayman could not operate an open economy with protectionist policies, he observed.
The premier confirmed that there would be changes to both immigration policy and the law as an incentive for financial institutions to move their actual operations to the Cayman Islands. Bush explained that these incentives were what the road show was promoting in what was a very competitive environment. Cayman was not the only jurisdiction trying to attract this inward investment, he said, noting that some investors had already expressed their interest in reaction to what Cayman was prepared to facilitate to attract the business.
The incentive package that Cayman is offering includes access to 3-5 year work permits for financial service entities relocating their operations here, which could be renewed; rapid turn around on immigration decisions; key employee status for senior staff; the introduction of a 25 year residency certificates for those bringing over $2 million of investments; and fast track CIMA applications, among other measures.
Bush told the House that, as Cayman had no reserves left on which the government could draw and was constrained by the limits of PMFL and the UK when it came to borrowing, it was extremely limited in how it could stimulate the economy. “My administration has recognised the only way to address the economic difficulties is by making policy changes to encourage business,” the premier said.
He warned that the world did not need Cayman but that Cayman needed the world and the jurisdiction had to make itself more competitive. Bush said the country’s competitor jurisdictions were not just watching but were also wooing investors with a range of incentives that were difficult to match.
“We must do what is necessary to get out of this mess,” Bush told his legislative colleagues before the LA adjourned for lunch. Government will be delivering the strategic policy statement this afternoon (18 November).
Category: Headline News
Wasteful, Disgraceful Expenditure!!!
Further, Mckeeva does not even know the difference between an INVESTOR, which creates jobs, vs those who comes to our shores seeking a job, which we call "EXPAT" who requires a work permit and at many times, does take away jobs from Caymanians.
The fact that he would get on the radio to make a statement in reference to the statement above this clearly confirms that he and his advisors does not know what they talking about – they have no clue of how the financial industry operates!!!
From his statement below, how is he going to ‘try’ to convince "investors or job seekers" to come to our shores. These very intelligent foreign nationals will be capable of seeing right-through his lacking of understanding of what he is trying to talk about. One should always take heed of the scripture that speaks to the following: ‘For it is better to be thought of, as a fool than to open your mouth and confirm it".
Its also stunning to come to the realisation that the whole world will know about the "specific immigration policies for new investors" before us Caymanians will……….but are we surprised?????? Naaaaaaah, same of sh*t!!
"As they did in London, the Cayman Islands delegation highlighted the new programmes and incentives identified to facilitate the domiciling and relocation process, including specific immigration policies for new investors and boosting departments’ capacity to service investor relocation in the Cayman Islands"
Can this man decide which story he wants to tell….one day he tells the Compass it was "tough going" people don’t want to invest because they heard that the country is bankrupt….SURPRISE Mac !!!! YOU TOLD THEM SO !!!!!!!
The next day we hear from the same mouth….."investors show interest"
Mac you need to decide which of the stories is true !!!!!!!!
Do not wonder about Mac’s double speak.
Our mouth has two sides, a right side and a left side.
Mac is one of those rare people, and all are politicians, who perfected the skill to say one thing out of the left side of his mounth, then something totally different out of the right side of his mouth and all at the same time!
Listen carefully because he does it all of the time.
BT Linguist.
Well articulated, BT. You are a very cunning linguist.
As a long term resident, for some time I have wanted to invest in a business in Cayman but to be honest others’ experience of silent partners and the 60% rule has scared me off and have invested elsewhere. Perhaps MAC should look closer to home for sources of investment and employment too.
Mac Bush says that his world holiday has not been a success! This is not surprising! What else did he expect?
As soon as the UDP were elected, Mac Bush has being shouting it loud & clear to the whole world that Cayman is bankrupt!
Imagine if I constantly tell all of Cayman that I have a house full of dangerous pit bulls, & I keep repeating this message over & over for everyone to hear. After a few weeks I then go to each district & invite everyone into my home to come taste my good home cooking! Would I expect anyone at all to visit my home after I have continually told them that I have dangerous pit bulls loose inside? NO!
How can Mac Bush & his cohorts waste our money in these hard times of BANKRUPCY travelling the world asking foreigners to come to Cayman & invest their millions AFTER telling them that Cayman is bankrupt? No person in their right mind will invest their hard earned dollars in a bankrupt country, NO WAY!
There is one person & one personalone to blame for the lack of new foreign investment in this country and that is Mac Bush, because he has chased away & scared away any potential investors, & his recent world holiday with his friends was destined to fail & was a total waste of our money! HE SHOULD NOT HAVE EXPECTED ANY DIFFERENT A RESULT THAN VERY LITTLE INTEREST BY FOREIGN INVESTORS, yet he seems surprised about it! What a joke! And what a joke he is!
Nonsense – pick your Caymanian Partners better – or seek an exemption- or pick an industry that does not require Caymanian participation. It works very well for a lot of people and keeps the balance that helps Cayman thrive.
It is my capital and I am not going to add other layers of risk. I have invested in a business off island and helping another country’s economy and employment. It’s a shame but the red tape was just too much.
20 page tax teturns every year in place of a 1 page T&B application does not sound that sensible to me.
If that’s what it takes so that I don’t have to give 60% of my profits and 100% legal control of my business to a local that I’ve known for a few days, seems like a worthy effort.
I wanted to open a business here and started setting up the business plan, but having spent a good long while on the requirements, feasibility and due diligence, it was obvious that the PITA factor and risks were unacceptable. My businesses remain all off-Island.
Why do you always assume the alternative is the U.S., UK or Canada? Cayman isn’t the only tax efficient jurisdiction in the world.
Caymanians need to understand that a lot of other juridictions have seen the past success of Cayman and are trying to emulate it.
Our competitors are hungry and driven. We better be ready for this competition.
My friend, what can the Premier or any Premier for that matter do, if the UK’s FCO earlier this year, has attempted to have us TAX people and businesses, and that before the budget year of 2010 to 2011, if we do not expand our revenue base, we will reap the consequences of taxation? Sir, there is not much we can do without reducing the size of government, privatization, having many civil servants unemployed, and decreasing fees. The deadline is REAL and if we can’t fulfill it and keep jobs and country at the same time, then the UK will have to act, and trust me, whatever action is not going to be for in our best interest.
The Caymanian people have heard this lie before….bring in the expertise from outside and they will open businesses and "watch the shop" until Caymanians are qualified and experienced to move up in these companies.
Guess what people….time has proven that this is a dirty lie!
The people who come to set up these businesses RARELY leave!
The Caymanians RARELY seem to be good enough to move up.
Instead, the newcomers bring more and more of their friends and get the Caymanians to teach their friends how to do the work resulting in most money generated leaving the economy.
Such wayward policies will only stimulate social unrest, not the Cayman economy.
I think you’re missing the point of this latest initiative. Bush is not trying to attract businesses, in particular funds, where it is intended that Caymanians will ever take the top positions. The ownership and management structures for these businesses will not be open to Caymanians except in rare circumstances. Maybe over time these circumstances might become less rare, but there will certainly be no promises.
The intention is to persuade these businesses to relocate their existing physical operations to Cayman, creating admin, accounting, support, secretarial etc. jobs. In all likelihood these will offer secure careers and well paying positions, to be filled by expats and Caymanians.
Bush recognises that you cannot dictate to these people. If you want any job growth through this avenue, you accept their terms. Otherwise they will stay where they are or move to another jurisdiction which is prepared to welcome them on their terms.
You are also missing an important point about businesses already here. Whether Caymanians are good enough to move up or not, this would not be an issue if the jobs did not exist and what would Caymanians then be doing for employment? Cayman’s glass is half full, but many Caymanians simply do not see this.
So your saying that There are NOW enough Caymanians that are Qualified and Experianced to move into these companies and NOW the people who set up these businesses should leave NOW?
And YOUR Qualifications and experiance have told you this?
If you are so Qualified and experianced why don’t you set up A business and of course just use only The Caymanians who seem RARELY good enough to move up. Only then will ANYONE belive you!
Time has proven what you and everyone can see with their own eyes.
The people who have set up these businesses stay to keep them running.
You got the next one right. Not really Caymanians fault considering The lack of adequate on island education. (or are you one of those who belive anyone can learn a job well by just watching someone else doing it?)
Your take on how a business should be run (in Cayman) stimulates social unrest and not the Cayman economy.
Finally someone willing to speak the truth!!!!
We should tell all those foreigners to invest their money here and then LEAVE! We only want the money to come here – the people can stay in their home countries.
Why can’t those greedy politicians and business people understand this simple concept?!?!?!
dont come to cayman – immigration policyand other red tape will make your business a nightmare. Go elsewhere
What red tape? All you need is friends in the right places. The mistake people make is to assume Cayman is, now, less corrupt than anywhere else. Here is how the rollover is going to bring Cayman down. On one hand, committed land owners are thrown out like trash (typically because of people with grudges who have friends on the Board – lying to the Board is perfectly acceptable, if Caymanian). What civilized society gives a husband and two kids residency but not the wife and mother? On the other hand, with the FOI laws, people who have been turned down actually have to right to find out why AND will get the information. This exposes the corruption that is rampant on the boards. In the past, a person was turned down and told to apply later on. One never found out why they were turned down and life went on. In this way the PPM has progressed these Islands.
The Premier seems to be one of the few people who realize that if Cayman doesn’t become more business friendly Cayman is finished. Are people willing to give up their BMW’s, Boston Whalers, trips to Miami, fine dining and airconditioning?
Cayman, you have been a beautiful country, in the past, and with many good people. Please don’t make the mistake of thinking countries cannot fail. How many years will it take for the majority to realize Cayman has been in a downward spiral since the Rollover? With the global economy on the mend, we are still going down. Why?
Despite the above, there are some who wholeheartedly believe the rollover is necessary. These are the same people who believe there is actually a points system. If these same people believe Cayman to be a place of integrity there is a simple solution to make the system fair for everyone. If there truly is a points system, there is no need to put the applicants name. This takes out most, if not all, of the corruption and everybody wins.
So that means then that 5 year work permits would only be extended to those who relocate their offices here, not to the ones who are already on Island?
Curious to see how this is going to pan out!
I think it would also include businesses that are already on the island once they have been certified as "good corporate citizens".
I have heard that there is consideration being given by Cabinet for a new category of businesses that have a proven history of attracting, training and promoting Caymanian employees.
Additionally, some thought should be give for giving incentives to existing firms that increase the size of their current operations (for both Caymanians and ex-pats) – firms such as UBS, Citco and Fortis would be good candidates.
I think Premier Bush is doing a fantastic job. Well done Mr. Bush – we applaud you for rising above the politics and the bickering and the sniping and concentrating on getting thecountry back on it’s feet.
ANON……..
You misunderstood my comment………BOTH SIDES……need to stop. It is not politrics "as usual" for Cayman these days. Time for The Premier to set the example….lead…..stop ….ignore all shots across the bow and get down to turning the country around before we need to borrow some more money.
Lachlan,
Ya make meh choke on meh lil supper of milo, bread & butter…..
McKeeva "rising above the politics and bickering and sniping"…are you out of your mind??!! The dude’s done nothing but bash people since he took office. If you’re the accused in a crime then you must be guilty; the AG is irresponsibly running amok; expats are ruining the country/we need more expats in our country (depending on who he’s talking to)…good grief…
You people do not seem to realize that our Premier has had to leave this Island he loves and travel to all these foreign countries not because he wants to but because he wants to bring prosperity to Cayman. Do you think he enjoys all this travelling, meeting all these important people? Even when he can surround himself with a few friends I am sure he misses being on his beloved Island.
Leave him be he will bring money to us you wait and see.
God bless our Premier.
Yes, he must absoluuuuuuutely detest the first class seating, fine dining, 5-star hotels and service each time he leaves Cayman. I know I would!
Get real…
PS…….
People are still travelling. Can we not see aggressive attention to our stay over tourism product. More stay over tourists = more inward income for middle class Caymanians = real estate sales = construction = more imports = more duty/taxes for CIG…………….
Our country like many others in the world needs Government focus. We have enormous hurdles to over come and like many I am tired of attack politrics and finger pointing . Why not putdown "the cutlas’s" and simply concentrate on the people and the country…..both sides. Give everyone a break from politricing.