The Cayman Islands experienced a 17 percent increase in new company registrations in 2014 over the previous year, according to a report by Appleby. The size of the jurisdiction’s total registry also increased, up 4 percent over 2013.
In 2014, 11,010 new companies registered in Cayman, according to the firm’s latest report, which provides insight and data on company incorporations in offshore financial centres and focuses on the full year 2014. With 1,500 more companies than in the previous year, the growth in the percentage of new incorporations year-on-year was a standout for the offshore region, the company said.
“Cayman was one of the hot spots for new incorporation activity in 2014,” said Richard McMillan, managing director of Appleby Trust (Cayman). “With the increase in new registrations, the total Cayman registry is now poised to break through the 100,000 barrier for the first time in its history, with a total at year-end of 99,459 companies.”
Incorporations of exempted companies, entities where the proposed activities are to be carried out mainly outside the Cayman Islands, made up 91 percent of all new companies added to the register. Foreign companies, those incorporated outside the Cayman Islands but registered in Cayman, represent 5 percent of the total. The report found the annual number of foreign company registrations now shows 14 years of uninterrupted growth, with 592 foreign companies registered in Cayman last year.
When looking at all the offshore jurisdictions examined in On the Register, there were 93,159 new offshore company incorporations in 2014, slightly behind the previous year’s number. The level of new company incorporations rose or remained level in all but two jurisdictions.
“There are 672,500 companies now registered across the offshore jurisdictions in which we operate, some 45,000 more than there were five years ago in the immediate aftermath of the global recession,” said Farah Ballands, partner and global head of fiduciary & administration services at Appleby. “Most offshore jurisdictions have had a good year, reporting increases to the total number of active companies on their registers of between 1 percent and 4 percent.”
Cayman Islands, Richard McMillan, Appleby Trust, Farah Ballands,
