LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Cayman Islands: West Indies
built 657 days ago
The Cayman Islands financial services industry developed along a path similar to that in other offshore centers, on the strength of private banking and company registration. While meeting the needs of high net worth individuals is still an important aspect of the industry, recently the focus has moved very much towards institutional business.
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Once a dependency of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands came under direct British rule after Jamaica declared independence in 1962. Granted greater autonomy under a 1972 constitution, the islands are largely self-governing and economically self-sufficient.
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The Cayman Islands were colonized from Jamaica by the British during the 18th and 19th centuries. Administered by Jamaica since 1863, they remained a British dependency after 1962 when the former became independent.
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CAYMAN ISLANDS, Oct. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) announced today that it notified the supervisory and managing boards (collectively the "Boards") of Tele Atlas N.V. ("Tele Atlas" or "the Company") today of its intention to make a public offer for all the outstanding shares of Tele Atlas N.V. on a fully diluted basis at an indicative offer price of euro 24.50 in cash per share (the "Offer"), implying an equity value for the Company of euro 2.3 billion. The intended Offer will be subject to customary conditions, such as receipt of the requisite antitrust approvals and tender of at least 66.67% of the issued share capital. In addition to its cash balance in excess of $1 billion, Garmin has secured financing commitments sufficient for the intended Offer. Garmin plans to launch the offer before December 4, 2007 (the scheduled expiry date of TomTom's offer).
This is the description of the Cayman Islands arms that appear on the flag. The turtle is the crest and the "rope" beneath it is the heraldic wreath. No connection to the rope industry here, but there are two other Carribean arms that do have this connection: Turks & Caicos Islands and Antigua & Barbuda.
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American lawmakers and tax policy experts are puting a cautionary and intent eye on the Cayman Islands. One particular piece of proposed legislation is the so-called Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, which seeks to combat ‘offshore secrecy’ that it claims enables “offshore tax havens to hide $100 billion in US tax revenues”. According to a New York Times article by Lynnley Browning published 1 July, the attention stems from the Islands becoming the ‘corporate home’ to three quarters of global hedge funds - funds which, it reports, are being used by US individuals and institutions to avoid tax responsibilities.
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