CIMA’s 2026 Reinsurance Thematic Review: Focus Points for Boards
The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has published its 2026 Thematic Review of Reinsurance Companies (Thematic Review). This reflects fieldwork conducted by CIMA between mid-2025 and Q1 2026 at selected Class B(iii) and Class D licensed reinsurers. The focus being on compliance with the Insurance Act (as revised) and other applicable legislation, regulations, rules and statements of guidance as issued by CIMA centering around stress-testing, cash flow testing frameworks, capital and collateral adequacy management, and corporate governance. Corporate governance weaknesses account for 68% of all findings with the remaining 32% spread across stress-testing, cash flow testing capital and collateral adequacy. Notwithstanding these findings, CIMA has noted several good practices across all areas including, importantly, comprehensive risk management frameworks covering key risk areas and strong capital and collateral adequacy monitoring processes. With Cayman’s reinsurance sector having grown to an institutional scale, and over 110 licensed reinsurers writing in the order of US$30 billion in annual premiums against over US$100 billion in assets, this latest Thematic Review demonstrates development in CIMA’s supervisory expectations of Cayman’s licensed reinsurers. It represents a reflection of the jurisdiction’s increasingly sophisticated and maturing reinsurance market and reinforces that CIMA’s expectations align closely with the standards that onshore counterparty cedants, rating agencies and US state regulators already expect. We take this opportunity to review certain of the key findings alongside CIMA’s cross-sectoral 2026 Thematic Review on Outsourcing, note some of the good practices highlighted by CIMA and make some associated recommendations for Cayman reinsurers.
A first since the blight, the airport cedar forest is growing tall and standing strong.
Firms are complying themselves out of business because compliance no longer matches the evolving sophistication of the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA).
The long game: how Bermuda became the world’s life reinsurance capital
Ask a life insurer in New York, London or Tokyo where the liabilities behind their book ultimately sit and there is an increasingly good chance the answer is a 21-square-mile island in the North Atlantic.
Record H1’26 Cat Bond Issuance Driven by Rising Sponsor Comfort and Diversified Risk
With H1 2026 officially breaking the record for the most catastrophe bond deals to come to market and settle in the first six months of the year, a key trend driving this momentum is how comfortable sponsors have become with the mechanics of the overall cat bond space. This familiarity has ultimately encouraged a wave of new sponsors to enter the market, according to Brad Adderley, Managing Partner at law firm Appleby.
The Global sees us share updates and insights from across our network of international offices on the latest legislative news, trends or developments impacting the corporate sector.
Contested Points of Foreign Law in the Winding-Up Context: Grand Court Provides Guidance
In China Export & Credit Insurance Corp v Hyalroute Communication Group Ltd, Asif J provided guidance on how a creditor’s winding up petition will be treated where the asserted dispute turns on complex issues of foreign law – here, in the context of PRC insurance law. This article considers the decision and the lessons that can be drawn from it.
National Budget Highlights - Making Mauritius future ready
THE MAURITIAN NATIONAL BUDGET 2026/2027 - “FUTURE READY ECONOMY” On 12 June 2026, Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam GCSK, FRCP, Prime Minister of Mauritius, in his capacity as Minister of Finance (Minister of Finance) tabled the National Budget for the fiscal year 2026-2027 under the theme “Future Ready Economy”. The National Budget builds on six strategic pillars namely, AI & Digitisation, SMEs & Start-Ups, Economic Modernisation, Sector Re-engineering, Blue Economy and Investment Growth.
CIMA Enforcement Action in Focus: Reminders and Recommendations
The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has recently published a number of Enforcement Notices that provide helpful context for regulated entities, including Licensees and Registered Persons under the Securities Investment Business Act (Revised) (SIBA), seeking to understand and meet their ongoing regulatory obligations in the Cayman Islands. In early June 2026, CIMA exercised its enforcement powers under SIBA Section 17 to cancel the registrations of several SIBA Registered Persons on the basis that it had reasonable grounds to believe that such Registered Persons had failed to meet certain key regulatory obligations. The Appleby Team takes this opportunity to review the relevant findings and CIMA enforcement action; and to highlight certain key obligations that attach to regulated entities in the Cayman Islands.
Further to the introduction of the Tax Information Authority (International Tax Compliance) (Common Reporting Standard) (Amendment) Regulations, 2025 (the CRS Amendment Regulations or CRS 2.0), the Cayman Islands Department for International Tax Cooperation (DITC) has issued an Industry Advisory flagging certain key updates in respect of Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and Economic Substance (ES) reporting in the Cayman Islands. Cayman Financial Institutions will be required file 2025 CRS Returns and Declarations by 31 July 2026, ahead of the online DITC Portal’s closure to facilitate its transition to XML Schema v3.0. ES courtesy reminders (which have historically been sent by email to designated Responsible Persons in advance of annual ES reporting deadlines) will no longer be issued such that Relevant Entities will need to independently track such deadlines themselves. Updated Individual and Entity CRS Self-Certification forms, aligned with CRS 2.0, are now available online via the DITC website.
2026 Guide to Blockchain & Crypto-Assets in the Cayman Islands
This updated 2026 guide covers the regulatory regime in the Cayman Islands applicable to virtual assets, tokenised funds and securities. We also cover evolving regulation and practices across blockchain technology, smart contracts, DeFi, stablecoins, tokenisation of real world assets, as well as share our outlook for future developments in the sector.
Briefing Note: CDD – Acceptance of Scanned PDFs of Wet Ink Certified Documents
The Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) has updated the Handbook on Countering Financial Crime (AML/CFT/CPF) (Handbook), introducing changes that affect how regulated businesses verify their clients’ identities and documents.
