Company Registry Spotlight: Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands began developing into a major international financial centre in the 1960s, and now has over 100,000 companies registered with its Registry of Companies.  

The registration and control of companies in the country is governed by the Companies Law, the Limited Liability Companies Law and the Foundation Companies Law. The shareholders or members of companies may have limited or unlimited liability. 

The Cayman Islands Company Registry is operated as part of the Government General Registry, which is responsible for the development and implementation of policies and systems for all registers under its administration. The Department oversees the functions and activities of the following Registers: Companies, Partnerships, Trusts, Non-Profit Organizations, Births, Deaths, Marriages, Civil Partnerships and Public records.  

The information published in this system comes from official company registration information collected and received through all available channels.

The online search feature of the Cayman Islands General Registry allows registered users to search for available Company information in its database.  

Users need a special registration access. This can only be obtained through the Cayman Islands Government’s eGov registration, which is required to search Company information through the online  Company information portal.  

Key entity types listed in the registry include the following:  

• Associations Not for Profit 
• Exempt Company 
• Foundation Company 
• Limited Liability Company 
• Non-Resident Company 
• Overseas Company 
• Resident Company 
• Special Economic Zone Company 
• Unlimited Company 

Companies in the Cayman Islands do have a legal obligation to file directors’ information with the official company registry. This information is included in the company search report provided by Know Your Customer. However, the shareholder report is not publicly available to registered users at the moment. 

Documents available through the online portal include:  

• Company Name and Number 
• Place and Date of Incorporation 
• Type of Company 
• Status (Active vs Dissolved) 
• Registered Office Address  

Any other information and/or documents must be requested from the Company’s Registered Office.  

There are applicable fees depending on the requested document types, which vary as follows: 

• Company Details – USD36.59 
• Director Details – USD60.98 
• Detailed Search – USD60.98 

According to official data from the Cayman Islands’ registry, as of the end of 2021, there were a total of 116,996 companies registered in the country. Of these, 16,748 (14.3%) were newly incorporated in the course of 2021. 

The growth in new company registrations is not a new trend unique to 2021. In fact, analysis of historic data shows that an average of 10,200 new companies were registered on a yearly basis in the course of the past ten years. 

On one hand, these newly incorporated companies represent a strategic commercial target for financial services providers. These firms are usually in need of business bank accounts, financial loans, insurance coverage for the company and staff, or other types of financing.  

On the other hand, financial institutions are under increasing pressure from regulators to conduct in-depth due diligence and investigate the corporate structures of their prospective customers. In this regulatory climate, primary source data has become an essential source of information for any effective AML and KYB strategy.

Accessing official company data and documentation gives compliance teams confidence they are basing their AML and KYB reviews on the most reliable, accurate, and complete beneficial ownership information available. 

At Know Your Customer, we help compliance teams identify a company’s structure through real-time connections to official government sources and provide access to 500+ local company registries across 125+ countries globally.   

We also enable financial institutions to identify Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBO) through AI-driven data extraction from official records, minimising AML, fraud, and financial crime risks through integrated name screening and on-going reviews. This type of end-to-end digitalisation and automation ensures audit-proof documentary evidence to meet financial regulators’ most stringent requirements.