CIMA releases latest edition of Investments Statistical Digest

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has released of its 9th edition of the Investments Statistical Digest. The document captures information that is required to be filed by all regulated funds via the Funds Annual Return (FAR) through CIMA’s electronic reporting systems, up to financial year-end, December 2015.

Various industry trends throughout the document show that while the total number of funds decreased slightly between 2014 and 2015, net assets under management increased due to net inflows of capital. In 2015, the Cayman Islands became the most popular destination for Net Asset Value (NAV) calculation services.

The report also recorded information collected from investment funds for the first time, including a breakdown of investments by jurisdiction of issuer. This new information will help improve CIMA’s supervisory and statistical framework.

In addition, the document shows comparison between the 2014 and 2015 collected data, which will allow readers to easily review the year-over-year statistics. Also highlighted was an 82 percent submission rate from all funds regulated in the Cayman Islands, while 2014 recorded a submission rate of 89 percent. Although submissions were marginally lower in 2015, reported figures in areas such as Total Assets, Net Asset Value and Total Subscriptions were higher than in 2014.

The Digest further include indicators of the financial sector’s performance during the same period, which illustrate that the Cayman Islands, continues to be a leading jurisdiction within the funds industry.

Cindy Scotland, managing director of CIMA, said: “I would like to emphasize the Authority’s commitment to transparency and accountability. As a regulator, we are constantly striving to improve our operations and to provide our licensees and regulated entities with relevant information. As such, this document aims to prove just that.”

She added: “On behalf of the Authority, I encourage the public and all interested stakeholders to make good use of this document, and to provide us with feedback on the document.”

Describing its production process, the Authority explained that each year, the Digest is based on annual returns filed by funds, majority of which are required to be filed within six months after the financial year-end. In some cases, a number of funds apply for an additional three-month extension. For instance, annual returns for the December 2015 year-end, with filings due by June 2016, were received in September 2016. The information is then collated accordingly. Nevertheless, the 2015 Digest is the earliest that this publication has been released since its inception.”