Cayman and Ireland war of words heats up
Friday January 28 2011 | 03:48 AM

The war of words between Cayman and Ireland intensified this week as the chairman of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange described claims that the jurisdiction is losing funds to Ireland as a "load of blarney".

Anthony Travers, who also serves as chairman of Cayman Finance group, hit out on Thursday at comments from the Irish Funds Industry Association, which he said perpetuate the "myth" that the island is the victim of funds re-domiciling.

Travers reiterated that the IFIA's suggestions that Ireland has doubled registered funds to 7.4 per cent "pale in comparison" to fund registrations in Cayman.

Earlier this week Travers insisted that plans by the Wikileaks website to release offshore bank account details relating to investors in Cayman would be of "historic interest only".

He said: "The Cayman Islands have a long and established record of banking transparency and a willingness to share information - not only with the United States and 20 other jurisdictions with which it has tax information exchange agreements, but with all 27 members of the European Union,"

"Release of the names of persons who maintain accounts in the Cayman Islands - much like other threats from Julian Assange to post information on WikiLeaks - sounds sensational but is yesterday's news."

Travers first poured scorn on the notion that Cayman was losing out to Ireland last month, insisting that regulatory changes were not making Cayman less attractive.

"If we sent out a press release each time a Cayman fund was launched, the international media would be flooded with two such announcements each day," he said.

In 2002, Cayman became one of the first non-OECD jurisdictions to sign up to transparency and exchange of information principles, leading to its inclusion on the global body's 'white list'.