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There are many optional offshore
jurisdictions in which you can
incorporate your business. In this
guide we focus on two of the most
popular jurisdictions and list other
separately. The Cayman Islands
consist of a group of three islands
in the Caribbean. The main island-
Grand Cayman- is situated at
approximately 1100km south of
Florida. The three islands have a
total area of 260km˛, the Grand
Cayman by itself having an area of
200km˛. The population of all three
islands is of approximately 30 000
inhabitants most of which reside on
Grand Cayman where the capital,
Georgetown, is located. The Cayman
Islands are a British colony and the
United Kingdom retains the right to
legislate. They have a special
statute that has allowed them to
become an important Offshore
Financial Centre where all the big
banks are established or represented
for years. In this jurisdiction
there are no income tax or currency
exchange controls. Approximately 50
000 companies, 450 to 500 insurance
companies (most of which are captive
of great International groups) and
between 600 and 700 offshore banks
are incorporated in The Cayman
Islands. The islands are an
appealing jurisdiction to open
offshore banks. During the year
2000, the Cayman Government decided
to negotiate a "Goodwill" agreement
in order not be listed as “Non
Cooperative Country" by the OECD's
Financial Action Task Force. The
name of Cayman Islands was not
anymore on the June 2001 report (the
latest one) probably as a result of
negotiations with the FATF. Will
this lead to the removal of bank
secrecy and exchange of tax
information with the members of the
OECD? This yet unanswered question
leads us not to recommend this
jurisdiction as an alternative on a
long-term basis.
However, it is correct to say that
this situation will cause no
problems whatsoever to our existing
clients since all the companies
created for them were done with
Nominee Shareholders, Nominee
Directors etc. The names of the
Beneficiaries are not registered on
Public or Private Records in Cayman
Islands. Actually, and this is true
for all of our tax-optimizing
structures, the only entities that
know the names of the Clients are
the banks themselves, those chosen
for the opening of the commercial
accounts. For obvious reasons of
confidentiality and assets
protection we always recommend to
select a different Jurisdiction for
locating the Bank operations of your
newly formed company. Seychelles
International Business Companies are
useful alternatives to offshore
companies established in
jurisdictions such as the British
Virgin Islands. In December 1994 the
Seychelles enacted legislation
enabling the registration of
International Business Companies,
International Trusts and the
licensing of International (free)
Trade Zone Companies. More recent
legislation covers the licensing of
offshore banks, offshore Insurance,
mutual funds activities and the
regulating of a securities industry.
The new laws were a result of
intensive studies of long
established offshore jurisdictions
and world-wide trust legislation.
Although not dissimilar to those of
the well-established offshore
jurisdictions such as the Cayman,
the laws take a most comprehensive,
modern and attractive approach to
the establishment and operation of
offshore companies, mutual funds,
offshore banking, offshore insurance
and Freeport activities. Seychelles
is one of the fastest IBC registrars
in the world. The International
Business Companies Act, 1994,
governs the operations of offshore
companies. The registration process
in Seychelles is straightforward.
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