The Cayman Islands is one of the world's largest international financial centers, largely used by multinational enterprises primarily from Asia, the Middle East, the United States, and Canada.
For instance, over 50% of all companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) are incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Numerous Cayman-registered companies, including Alibaba and Manchester United, are listed on the NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Tech giants such as Huawei and TikTok, as well as other large technology groups such as Grab Holdings and Seagate also have group companies registered in the Cayman Islands. Cayman Islands’ vehicles can also be found in other stock exchanges like the London Stock Exchange (LSE), Euronext, and Singapore Exchange (SGX).
The Cayman Islands is also the preferred jurisdiction for hedge fund managers to domicile and register their funds, ranking among the top three jurisdictions for hedge funds alongside the USA and Luxembourg. This prominence is reflected, for instance, by the Cayman Islands being the 7th largest foreign holder of US Treasury securities, following Japan, China, the UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.
Large US banks maintain branches in the Cayman Islands for overnight deposits, intra-bank lending, and the issuance of financial instruments through the Cayman Islands special purpose vehicles (SPVs), such as mortgage-backed securities.
The Cayman Islands boasts a huge banking sector with nearly 100 banks operating within the jurisdiction. These banks collectively manage around $600 billion in assets.
The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) is responsible for overseeing and regulating the banking sector in the Cayman Islands, issuing Category A (11 banks in 2024) and Category B licenses (84 banks in 2024).
Banks with Category A licenses conduct both domestic and foreign business, including large Canadian groups like RBC, CIBC FCIB, and Scotiabank, as well as local and regional banks such as Cayman National, Proven, Cainvest, and Bermuda-based Butterfield. These banks provide universal banking services in the Cayman Islands dollar and foreign currencies, opening corporate bank accounts and personal bank accounts to residents and non-residents, commercial banking, wealth management, and fund services. Retail banking for non-resident individuals is generally not available. However, non-resident individuals can open accounts from premier banking with relationships starting at USD 100,000, which includes certain investment services, as well as private banking and full-fledged private banking, including discretionary management with relationships starting between USD 500,000 and USD 1,000,000.
Category B licensees operate solely in foreign markets and deal exclusively in foreign currencies. This category includes large multinational banking groups from APAC, Europe, the USA, Canada, South America, the Middle East, and beyond. These banks primarily focus on securities-related activities, fund services, as well as trust and wealth management.
Minimum initial deposit requirements in the Cayman Islands banking sector vary significantly depending on the type of entity and the services required. Commercial entities may have relatively low deposit requirements (USD 25,000), while wealth management and institutional banking typically entail larger amounts (starting from USD 100,000).
The onboarding process is relatively strict for both Cayman Islands and foreign companies. Nonresident personal banking is typically limited to wealth management services and is often provided by smaller banks specializing in this area.
At Flag Theory, we assist both resident and non-resident companies incorporated in the Cayman Islands and elsewhere to open business accounts in banks within the jurisdiction. We also assist nonresident individuals in opening personal accounts for both premier banking (including transactional banking) and wealth management purposes.
We work with 4 different banks in Cayman Islands, each bank has different eligibility requirements, types of accounts available and onboarding processes.
We invite you to carefully review each banks requirements and services to better understand if their banking services meet your needs.
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory dependent on the United Kingdom and located northwest of Jamaica between the island of Cuba and the coast of Honduras in the waters of the Caribbean Sea. The Cayman Islands is a member of the CARICOM single market.
The 264-square-kilometer (102-square-mile) territory comprises three islands, Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, where about 69,000 people live, 55,000 of which live in its capital, George Town (Grand Cayman).
Its official currency is the Cayman Islands Dollar (KYD), pegged to the US dollar at a 1,227:1 ratio.
The Cayman Islands are a British overseas territory, designated by the UN Decolonization Committee as one of the last Non-Self-Governing Territories. The fifteen representatives who compose the Legislative Assembly are elected by the people every four years, they are in charge of managing the internal affairs. Of the elected members of the Legislative Assembly, five are elected to serve as ministers in a Cabinet headed by the Governor. The head of government is the Prime Minister.
The governor is appointed by the King/Queen of the United Kingdom on the advice of the British Government to represent the monarch.
The Cayman Islands has a solid economy, with one of the highest per capita income worldwide. Being also one of the most expensive places to live, since most products are imported and are subject to high tariffs.
Its main sectors are luxury tourism for its pristine beaches, scuba diving and high-end gastronomy, and offshore financial and insurance services, with hundreds of licensed banks, which handle about $500 billion in assets.
The Cayman Islands is one of the 5 largest financial centers in the world by deposits and the world’s largest financial center for investment funds, with the presence of the global largest financial institutions.
Main financial services available in the territory are private banking, hedge fund formation, and investment, trust services, structured finance and securitization, captive insurance, and international business company services.
Our banking support service is not just a mere introduction to the bank. We assist you in filling out the business questionnaires appropriately and help you understand and provide business details, commercial information and purpose/use of the bank account that a given bank wants to know in order to approve your account application. Banks want certainty and clarity on how the account will be used. Everything must be watertight. We will work with you to make sure there is minimal 'back and forth' and a smooth account opening process.
Bank Account opening requirements are subject to change at the discretion of the bank. There might be additional fees charged by the bank itself. Bank account opening is not guaranteed and is subject to the bank policies and compliance department. There might be restrictions on UBO nationalities, business activities and/or jurisdictions. A refund is available if the account is not successfully opened subject to our terms of service (20% to partly cover service and payment processing and administrative costs apply).