The Cayman Islands will soon be applying for Qualified Jurisdiction status to strengthen its position as a leading global reinsurance centre and reinforce access to US insurance markets.
Premier Andre Ebanks said the move, which will take place before the end of the second quarter, is part of a longer-term effort to deepen credibility with international regulators and reinsurers.
“This is not just a regulatory milestone, it is a statement of intent,” Ebanks, who also serves as Financial Services and Commerce minister, told Cayman Independent.
“We have done the groundwork, we have engaged at the highest levels, and by the end of this quarter we will be formally in the game. The application is the starting gun, not the finish line.”
Qualified Jurisdiction status is a designation awarded by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to non-US insurance regulatory jurisdictions.
It recognises that they have regulatory standards deemed comparable to those in the US, allowing for greater regulatory reliance and smoother cross-border reinsurance activity.
The market would see that “doing business through Cayman continues to carry the same confidence that you expect from one of the world’s leading reinsurance centres”, he added.
The premier also emphasised the jurisdiction’s role in supplying capacity to markets under pressure, particularly in the United States.
“We bring fresh, well-regulated capital to markets that are genuinely underserved, whether that is home insurance capacity in states battered by climate events, or long-term savings products for an ageing population facing a retirement shortfall,” he said.
According to the premier, reinsurance has now been formally embedded into government policy planning and resourcing.
“That is not window dressing. It means resources, it means staffing at CIMA, and it means cabinet-level engagement at every stage of this process,” he said.
“We made that promise before the election and we have delivered on it.”
He added that maintaining Cayman’s competitiveness requires coordination across government, regulator and industry.
“No jurisdiction builds a world-class reinsurance centre on its own,” he said.
“Government sets the framework, CIMA provides the regulatory credibility, and the private sector delivers the substance. We all have to be sharp.”
Speaking during the ReConnect conference where he announced the move, Ebanks indicated that regulatory refinement may still be required as the jurisdiction positions itself more aggressively in the global market.
“We got pockets of things broadly covered, but we should really be smashing things out of the park so that there is no doubt,” he said.
“Valuation approaches, transparency and regulatory class modifications may need to be made.”
The QJS application places Cayman alongside a small number of jurisdictions seeking formal equivalence recognition, as competition intensifies among global financial centres for reinsurance and alternative capital flows.
