Business

(CNS): Despite comments by the premier that government would be asking the private sector to support civil servants who are looking at salary cuts by offering them discounts, many of the entities cited by Bush say they are not in a position to offer discounts. Hurley’s Supermarket was the only grocery store that has publicly stated that it will offer the discount and HSBC said it would look to help with interest rates. Foster’s told CNS that they already cut discount to the wire in their stores and if they had the room for more they would offer it to everyone. CUC also said it did not have the room and neither of the water suppliers have made a decision.

(CNS): On the drawing board for a considerable amount of time, the next luxury condo development on Seven Mile Beach has taken a serious step towards becoming a reality as the WaterColours development team has formally begun the structural pile testing process. A significant milestone of construction on the 39-unit residential development, this signals the real start of the building work. The developers have also announced that the general contractors on the project will be Arch & Godfrey Cayman Limited.“Arch & Godfrey have been long time partners of the development group, working on past projects such as Water’s Edge,” said Steve Henderson of The WaterColours Development Team.

(CNS): Although the Cayman Islands real estate market is continuing its four-year downward trend, analysts say this year’s fall in value was, at least, not as much as had been expected.  Although transfers fell by around 9%, Charterland Ltd chartered surveyors said it could have been a lot worse. Simon J Watson, the firm’s director, said there has been much speculation as to how the Cayman property market was impacted by the economic environment of 2009. The decrease was expected but it was actually less than many property experts had predicted, he observed.

(CNS): Following the recent move by government to remove the mandatory obligation for employers and employees to pay 10% of earnings into pension funds the Cayman Islands Chamber Pension Trustees have raised their concerns that employees may be forced to agree to employers stopping their pensions even though the new law says it must be voluntary.  The Chamber has also warned that regulating and managing this change in the law will prove problematic increasing the costs of pension administration as well as allowing more non-compliance.

(CNS):  Hoping to tackle issues regarding financing for small businesses; immigration as well as fighting small claims the Cayman Islands Small Business Association (CISBA) had its first general meeting last month. By coming together members hope the association will provide a voice for small businesses in the Cayman Islands and to be able to share informaiton and help each other. Its currently has 50 members from a wide cross-section of enterprises including medical, retail and professional services companies. 

(USA): Federal employees earn higher average salaries than private-sector workers in more than eight out of 10 occupations, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data finds.  Accountants, nurses, chemists, surveyors, cooks, clerks and janitors are among the wide range of jobs that get paid more on average in the federal government than in the private sector.  Overall, federal workers earned an average salary of $67,691 in 2008 for occupations that exist both in government and the private sector, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The average pay for the same mix of jobs in the private sector was $60,046 in 2008, the most recent data available.

(CNS): The first public comments from the private sector regarding government plans to cut civil service salaries and reduce public spending has come from the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce, which has offered its full support. The body which speaks for Cayman’s commercial community said that it has long advocated a reduction in Cayman’s public sector and the divestment of some of the services into the private sector, which the Chamber says will improve efficiency and cut costs.

(CNS): Following the announcement of the bank's annual results on Monday, which revealed an underlying pre-tax profit of US$13.3 billion, the Cayman Islands CEO of HSBC, Gonzalo Jalles, said the results highlight the strength, diversity, and global reach of the group. After another challenging year for the economy and financial sector, the bank said it had delivered a resilient performance for 2009, demonstrating the importance of its diversified business model. The bank said it was ahead of 2008 after excluding last year's goodwill impairment and net underlying revenues were also strong, growing 8% to US$72.4 billion.

(CNS): Three quarters of the Cayman-based insurer Sagicor General Insurance will be acquired by Bahamas First Holdings before the end of this month, according to media reports. The remaining quarter will stay in the hands of the Cayman Islands Government. The acquisition of a 75.24 percent stake in Sagicor is now awaiting approval from both CIMA and its Bahamian counterpart before the deal is finalized. Sagicor gained its government partner in 2005 when it purchased a 51% share in Cayman General, which government acquired as a result of a deal in the wake of Hurricane Ivan.

(CNS): Despite announcing net losses of $213 million for the group this afternoon, the Managing Director of Butterfield Cayman Ltd was relatively upbeat at the press conference convened to announce the changes at the financial institution. The bank boss revealed that The Carlyle Group, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and “other Institutions” had injected $550 million worth of new capital into the bank. Conor O’Dea admitted that the losses and fall in share price were bad news for shareholders but the capital injection made it good news for employees and customers.

(Reuters):  Private equity and hedge funds that were hit by the storm of the financial meltdown are now benefiting from a return of bank financing, deals, and pockets of opportunity to exit investments. Buyout firms have benefited from higher valuations for their portfolios and the ability to take some of their deals public, as seen by earnings released this week from Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Hedge funds, which were hammered by losses of 19 percent in 2008, rode last year's market rally to return 20 percent in 2009, according to Hedge Fund Research. Still, executives face a challenge in generating returns and meeting investor demands for lower fees and more information from their portfolios.

(CNS): Updated Monday* - Given the severe negative impact the global recession has had on tourism, the Cayman Islands can take some comfort in the fact that figures for Jan 10 show a 6.8% increase in air arrivals over Jan 2009. According to the latest arrival statistics from the Department of Tourism, the number of passengers arriving by air to Cayman was 25,006 compared to 23,404 in January 2009. Meanwhile, down at the port almost 4,000 more people were on the cruise ships that docked in Grand Cayman than last year, with a total of 165,378 compared to 161,657 in the first month of 2009. (Note: DoT have revised the figures on their website since this article was first posted.)

(Bloomberg): US investors don’t have to report large holdings in offshore hedge funds or private-equity firms this year under disclosure rules designed to detect offshore tax evasion and money laundering, the Internal Revenue Service said. The IRS announcement followed the issuance of proposed regulations by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a Treasury agency, that effectively spare fund investors from a June 30 deadline to report offshore accounts that exceed $10,000. The IRS said it “will not apply its enforcement authority adversely in the case” where people are invested in foreign hedge funds or private-equity funds “with respect to that account for calendar year 2009 and earlier calendar years.”

(CNS): As part of the government’s policy changes regarding business and investment, the Trade & Business Licensing Office has been moved from the responsibility of the Department of Immigration to the new Department of Commerce and Investment (DCI). The move, officials said, was part of the recent changes in the national policy framework to stimulate inward and local investment in the Cayman Islands. Trade and Business will now be integrated with the DCI. (Left: DCI Executive Director Dax Basdeo)

(CNS): The pressure for government to cut spending and reduce the civil service is mounting. An academic report examining the fiscal challenges facing the Cayman Islands contains heavy criticism of the way the United Kingdom is addressing its financial problems and says Cayman should not follow its lead but reduce the public sector. The report, compiled by Richard Teather, shows that the Cayman Islands has more than doubled the government spending per head of population than the average level for comparable countries. Teather says the solution to Cayman’s current financial problems is a substantial reduction in government expenditure and not taxation.