Cayman & Dubai sign deal

(CNS): The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has formally established bilateral ties with the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) through a memorandum of understanding. The MOU, signed by CIMA’s Managing Director, Cindy Scotland, received endorsement by the premier during his recent trip to Dubai. McKeeva Bush was present when representatives from DFSA signed on Wednesday. “The MOU with DFSA reinforces the regulator-to-regulator cooperation which the government of the Cayman Islands fully supports,” said Bush. “As I have previously stated, there are many synergies between our jurisdictions and I am proud to have been able to be a part of this solidification in our ongoing relationship with Dubai.”

The agreement adds to a list of 20 existing MOUs and similar accords which CIMA has with international counterparts will govern cooperation and the exchange of information between the organisations, which officials said was already taking place on an informal basis.

Signing on behalf of the DFSA, Chief ExecutivePaul Koster, said the DFSA was pleased to formalize the arrangement with CIMA. “Both authorities are integrated regulators striving to embrace best practice and seeking to reflect the resolutions of the international standard-setters,” he added.

DFSA is the independent regulator of all financial and ancillary services conducted through DIFC. The DFSA’s regulatory mandate covers asset management, banking and credit services, securities, collective investment funds, custody and trust services, commodities futures trading, Islamic finance, insurance, an international equities exchange and an international commodities derivatives exchange. In addition, DFSA, like CIMA, complies with the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision and is a member of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS).

It is also a signatory to the multilateral MOU with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), and has a number of other agreements in place. The DFSA has over 50 bilateral memoranda of understanding with regulators in jurisdictions across the world including the UK, Jersey, Isle of Man, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal and Malta.

Managing Director Cindy Scotland said the MOU reinforces CIMA’s strong international cooperation regime, further demonstrating its commitment.

“CIMA is pleased to formally recognise the cooperation that has existed between our jurisdictions and we look forward to continuing that. This MOU will create a framework that will facilitate greater assistancebetween us – the regulators of financial services in Cayman and Dubai – with regard to effectively carrying out our duties," said Scotland.

In addition to the DFSA, and IOSCO, CIMA has bilateral and multilateral MOUs and other information-exchange agreements with financial regulators in Argentina, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, the Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jersey, Malta, Mexico, Panama, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the UK, and the USA. The multi-lateral agreements include one with four USA federal banking regulators and another with eight Caribbean banking regulators.

The agreements can be viewed in the Regulatory Framework / International Agreements section of CIMA’s website: International Agreements.