FT.com One of the biggest hedge fund service businesses on the Cayman Islands has tried to block sweeping reforms to make the tax haven, the world’s main centre for hedge funds, more transparent.
The Caymans is home to more than 9,400 hedge funds, sheltering assets worth an estimated $2.2tn, and has faced increasing calls from investors and governments for an overhaul of its regulation.
A company linked to DMS Management, the largest provider of hedge fund “fiduciary services” – the hiring of independent directors to sit on fund boards – has filed a suit against the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, seeking to stop the regulator from “taking any decision” on a range of transparency and corporate governance reforms proposed earlier this year.
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, which saw many hedge fund investors hit hard by their offshore fund directors’ poor oversight of fund managers’ investments or decisions to restrict withdrawals, calls for reform of Cayman directorship rules have grown.
