News & Events

Anecdotally, there has been a marked increase recently in the use of arbitration as a means by which to resolve commercial disputes in the Cayman Islands. In light of the increasing prevalence of arbitration, it is timely to remind potential users of arbitration in the Cayman Islands of its availability and possibly significant advantages over other forms of dispute resolution. We therefore address in this brief note some common questions relating to arbitration in this jurisdiction.

In a novel judgment of Mr Justice McMillan delivered on 1 August 2017, the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands awarded costs against non-parties that did not fund or control the proceedings in issue. The Court also clarified that the costs rule for sanction applications (CWR O.24 r.9) is applicable to an application by a liquidator under sections 103 and/or 138 of the Companies Law.

New legislation has been enacted in the British Virgin Islands (the “BVI”) to require registered agents to establish and maintain a beneficial ownership database (“UBO Database”) and requiring the Government of the British Virgin Islands to establish and maintain a search platform, referred to as Beneficial Ownership Secure System (“BOSS”), enabling each licensed registered agent to establish such database and a limited number of designated persons to access each database established by a registered agent.