“Certainly we are at no way to the level that is needed for the regulation of the financial industry in a very robust way,” says a bigwig at the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority.

Patrick Bodden, the deputy managing director of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, which allegedly has trouble getting its annual reminders out on time, has admitted that his organisation is understaffed. He was answering a parliamentary question about staffing from McKeeva Bush, a politician who was reportedly charged in March last year with two counts of misconduct in a public office, four counts of breach of trust by a member of the Legislative Assembly under s13 Anti-Corruption Law 2008) and five counts of theft under s241 Penal Code 2007 Revision to do with a governmental credit card and the import of explosive substances. Reports suggest that he has been on bail ever since.

The Cayman Compass quoted Bodden as saying that “certainly we are at no way to the level that is needed for the regulation of the financial industry in a very robust way.” He went on to say that the authority employs 173 staff, including 152 Caymanians, and has 25 as-yet unfilled vacancies, between 5 and 7 of which are senior. The exchange took place at a meeting of a parliamentary committee. The Cayman Compass was perhaps lucky to be able to hear it; in the neighbouring Turks & Caicos Islands, the House of Assembly has denied private media the privilege of recording any future proceedings.

The Government is planning to drop the budget for CIMA this year from $6.3 million to $3.3 million, because of revenues that it expects from the Director Registration and Licensing Law (2014) which came into effect on 4 June, and which gives directors of Cayman “covered entities” 3 months from that date to register or licence, unless they are corporate entities in which case they have six 6. Other reports suggest that CIMA’s real problem is monetary and it is waiting for the extra income before it can recruit the necessary staff.