Anthony Travers

Anthony Travers Chairman of Cayman Islands Stock Exchange was made an Officer of theLink title Most Excellent Order [OBE] for his services to the Government and the Financial sector August 1998 Mr Travers , Senior Partner at Maples & Calder has been the driving force behind a large number of the developments in the financial sector over the last 20 years. Apart from being one of the prime movers in the creation of the Exchange , he has been instrumental in preparing legislation governing financial services , including the Fraudulent Dispositions Law 1989, the Exempted Limited Partnership Law 1991 and the Mutual Law 1993. The Governor of the Cayman Islands Mr John Owen said "Anthony Travers has contributed enormously to the development of the Cayman Islands as a leading financial sector and this honour is in recognition of a job well done "

March 2009 The Cayman Islands Financial Services Association (CIFSA) announced today the formation of a task force of leading representatives of the financial services industry that will engage with relevant authorities in the U.S. and other nations to help build understanding and acknowledgement of the global benefits of Cayman’s financial services sector. The task force will be headed up by newly-appointed CIFSA Chairman Mr. Anthony Travers, currently Chairman of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange, who has represented the financial services sector in relation to the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) Harmful Tax Competition Initiative and the European Union Savings Directive.

Anthony Travers quoted in the Guardian 25 September 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/25/cayman-debt-crisis-budget-postponed

Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Anthony Travers, chairman of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange, talks with Bloomberg's Elliott Gotkine and Margaret Brennan about the outlook for increased government regulation of tax havens.

Travers, speaking from London, also discusses the tax transparency treaties the Cayman Islands has signed with the U.S. and European Union. Source: Bloomberg) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aYNQ5KKI1V_4

Link to CIFSA - Cayman Islands Financial Services Association - Chairman Anthony Travers OBE http://www.caymanfinances.com/

The Cayman Islands Stock Exchange (CSX) is a stock exchange based in Grand Cayman on the Cayman Islands. It started operations in July 1997, and is fully owned by the Cayman Islands government. The CSX was recognized by the London Stock Exchange as an approved organization in July 1999. [1]

Over 1,000 stocks, eurobonds, warrants and global depositary receipts are listed on the CSX. Chairman of the exchange is Anthony Travers, former Senior Partner at Maples and Calder. The stock exchange is located at Elizabethan Square in downtown George Town. The exchange uses a fully electronic trading platform that was developed under a partnership with Bloomberg L.P..

The CSX was originally set up to provide a listing facility for the specialist products of the Cayman Islands – mutual funds and specialist debt securities. The CSX’s capabilities now extend to sophisticated vehicles and structures including the listing of derivative warrants, depositary receipts, Eurobonds, preferred shares and international equity. The CSX currently has more than 1,400 listings and a market capitalisation of more than $123 billion. Other key facts and recognitions for the CSX include:

   * In 2006, surpassing more than 1,000 listings before the 10-year mark, posting on average, double-digit listings growth each year since its inception
   * In 2005, reaching break-even status a full two years before planned, allowing the CSX to become a positive contributor to Government’s finances
   * In 2004, being granted 'recognised stock exchange' status by the UK Inland Revenue in March 2004, greatly enhancing the CSX’s commercial appeal to UK investors
   * In 2003, being admitted as an affiliate member of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)
   * In 2001, being the first (and still only) offshore exchange to become a member of the Intermarket Surveillance Group, a self governing association of exchanges and exchange regulators from around the world committed to information sharing and the enhancement of market surveillance procedures
   * In 1999, becoming the first offshore stock exchange to be registered with the London Stock Exchange
A statement by the CIFSA chairman Mr. Anthony Travers  	  PDF   	  Print   	  E-mail

Written by Anthony Travers Tuesday, 05 May 2009

An Open Letter to President Obama From the Cayman Islands Financial Services Association

WASHINGTON, May 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is an open letter to President Obama from the Cayman Islands Financial Services Association: May 5, 2009 The Honorable Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

We are pleased with your announcement that the United States intends to restore balance and fairness to its global tax policy. We agree with your focus on preventing tax fraud and evasion; ensuring that every corporation pays its fair and lawful share is important. We stand with you in favoring effective prevention of tax fraud and evasion and maximum transparency between tax jurisdictions, including the Cayman Islands.

We are, however, gravely concerned about your remarks regarding the Cayman Islands, which erroneously suggest that the subsidiaries of U.S. corporations operating in Cayman are engaging in tax fraud merely because they are registered to do business here. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We believe that Cayman-based corporate subsidiaries operate legally and transparently and are aware of no information to the contrary. The Cayman Islands has a low tax rate, just as do Ireland and other jurisdictions. That is not a bad thing; it certainly is not the basis upon which to suggest illegality in the form of tax evasion.

Tax deferral arises, as you know, from current provisions of U.S. tax law that were designed to provide a competitive advantage to American companies in global trade. But this is not fraud, evasion or artificial avoidance. Historically, deferral has been used by some U.S. companies to boost the capital they have available for reinvestment, expansion and job creation. We fully recognize that the issue of tax deferral is a matter for the U.S. Government to determine, and we state no view on that subject.

We do feel compelled to note that, for over 20 years, the Cayman Islands has been a model of cooperation with the United States and, indeed, the world. We have worked cooperatively on every international initiative from the United States, the IMF, the OECD and the FATF to create a financial regulatory structure that is robust, accountable, transparent and fair. We take our obligations in this regard very seriously. Notably, there has not been a single bank failure in the Cayman Islands during this financial crisis and none of the financial recklessness that has brought about much of the current global crisis occurred in or involved the Cayman Islands. Rather, to the contrary, the investments which flow from the 12,000 companies involved with the United States have provided trillions of dollars of international investment to U.S. financial institutions at a critical period, and have done so in a fully transparent manner.

Specifically, since 2005, the Cayman Islands has had a fully informative tax information exchange arrangement under the European Union Savings Directive (EUSD) with all 27 European countries. In 1990, Cayman entered into a fully transparent all crimes Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the U.S. and, in 2001, a comprehensive U.S. Tax Information Exchange Agreement. We are actively pursuing additional information sharing agreements with additional jurisdictions. We are eager to work with your Administration to take further steps as necessary to promote transparency and tax law compliance. Moving forward, we hope you will provide us the opportunity to provide you and your Administration a fuller description of the efforts the Cayman financial industry has taken to promote transparency and accountability. We are confident that this will enable you to share our conclusion that U.S. citizens do not use the Cayman Islands to evade tax.

Mr. President, we share your concern that the global financial markets work transparently, safely and to the benefit of all participants. We look forward, as we always have, to working with you toward this goal.

Sincerely,

Anthony Travers, OBE

Chairman, Cayman Islands Financial Services Association.

[edit]