In 2018, the National Private Placement Regime pathway to access European investors is scheduled to be phased out. But given that ESMA is yet to approve the next wave of jurisdictions to qualify for the AIFMD third country passport, this seems an unlikely timeframe. "Given that ESMA still has to review amendments to Cayman legislation and provide its approval, there is a long road ahead and 2018 really isn't that far away. I am of the view that NPRR will likely be extended a year or two to allow jurisdictions such as Cayman and the US to be properly considered

By Leon den Exter (pictured) & Vumi Dube, DMS Governance – A professional director for a hedge fund might take an instinctive view that board observer rights are not desirable given the traditional view of separation of capital ownership and those responsible for fund governance. Professional directors confident in their abilities would, however, welcome the opportunity to show how seriously they take their fiduciary responsibilities and demonstrate their skills and knowledge of good governance under the scrutiny of a board observer.  A board observer can take different forms but the general idea is that an investor would have the right to

By Chris Humphries, Stuarts Walker Hersant Humphries – The Cayman Islands is a transparent International Financial Centre which complies with all global standards on tax transparency and information exchange and whose financial services industry seeks to achieve the highest levels of professional conduct in order to service its core markets in a manner which is at all times: consistent with the high expectations of the Cayman Islands regulators; in accordance with the Cayman Islands laws and established best practices; and, to the extent possible, beyond reproach by its counterparts (and their respective regulators, law makers and governing bodies) in the traditional major financial centres around the world. In furtherance

Such is the level of scrutiny facing alternative fund managers that the general trend towards increased usage of independent directors has risen in recent times. Maree Martin (pictured), Counsel at Conyers Dill & Pearman, confirms that fund boards are not only becoming comprised of majority independent directors but that a more recent trend is the use of split independent boards.  “This is adding even greater independence to the board,” says Martin. “The perception being that whilst directorships are an individual appointment, if two directors are from the same firm they may adopt the same approach to matters arising for their

Flexibility, cost-effectiveness and speed to market are just a few of the advantages to electing to launch a fund on a pre-existing Segregated Portfolio Company (SPC) fund platform.  Alternatively, managers may choose to set up an SPC structure of their own, allowing them to add new segregated portfolios when they wish to offer separate investment strategies.  "We are seeing a lot of managers setting up their first Cayman Island fund structure as an SPC so that if, in six or twelve months' time they identify a separate strategy, they know that they can establish an additional portfolio and that it will

The Cayman Limited Liability Company structure has been up and running since mid-July 2016 and over that short period of time close to 200 LLCs have been registered in the jurisdiction.  One of its leading architects is Jonathan Green (pictured), head of the Cayman Islands Investment Funds team at Maples and Calder. Green was the chairman of the sub-committee that was charged with helping draft the Cayman LLC law but as he explains: "This is something Maples had been working on for more than a decade. As such, a lot of thought had been put into it before we got to

With the introduction of the Cayman LLC, the EU Connected Fund in its final stages of approval and a general drive towards continued regulatory evolution, the Cayman Islands is putting itself just where it needs to be to support global fund managers in today’s regulatory environment.  The sign of any serious fund jurisdiction is its willingness to reflect on what it offers the global investment management community and find ways to evolve and bring new solutions to market. Whether they are regulatory changes, fund product changes or legal structuring developments, anything that demonstrates the willingness of a jurisdiction to respond