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30 January 2023Analysis

Cayman opens first US office


The Cayman Islands government has opened its first US-based office. The office in Washington, DC, was opened officially on Thursday, 26 January, by the Ministry of Financial Services and Commerce.

Cayman governor Martyn Roper, minister of financial services and commerce André Ebanks, and the government’s representative for the US and Canada, Chris Duggan, spoke at the reception. It included officials from fellow Caribbean countries, representatives from the British Embassy, former members of the US Congress, DC industry stakeholders, and Cayman Islands industry visitors.

The UK fully supported the office and its remit, Roper told the audience, while Ebanks said that Duggan’s role would create opportunities for providing an accurate record of the Cayman Islands to US elected officials, department staff, industry representatives and the media.

After the event, Roper also noted that plans for the two further offices, covering the EU and Asia, are progressing well. Like the Cayman government’s long-established office in the UK, the representatives in the three new offices will cover all of government. Deborah Bodden will be the government’s representative for the EU; Gene DaCosta, its representative for financial services in the UK/EU; and Dr Tasha Ebanks-Garcia in Asia.

Duggan was appointed to his role back in 2021.

“The process for establishing an office in an overseas jurisdiction requires a number of approvals,” Ebanks explained. “Among others, the Cayman Islands Government thanks the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office, through the British Embassy in Washington, DC; the US State Department; and our own Ministry of District Administration and Lands, which approved the DC office location in accordance with Government policy.”

The official opening of the DC office followed the Cayman Finance Breakfast Briefing and a reinsurance roundtable earlier in the week.