Article Snapshot:
- Numbers don’t lie: a record-breaking 16,326 companies were formed in Cayman last year, pushing the total number of active companies to 107,309 at the end of 2018.
- Recently released statistics from the General Registry state that the number of registered companies has been growing steadily since the end of 2017.
- In March of 2018, the number of companies in Cayman surpassed 100,000, breaking the six-figure mark for the first time since September of 2016.
- Active partnerships reached 26,381 by the end of 2018, growing from 22,655 in just a single year.
- 792 new resident companies were created last year, pushing the active number of local companies to 6,840.
- Exempt companies skyrocketed in 2018, with 13,893 new registered entities and 90,265 active entities by the end of the year.
- The British Virgin Islands also saw a marked increase in company formations; incorporations hit an almost three-year high in the first few months of 2018.
Formation Sector Skyrockets
Numbers don’t lie: a record-breaking 16,326 companies were formed in Cayman last year, pushing the total number of active companies to 107,309 at the end of 2018. 792 new resident companies were created in 2018, pushing the active number of local companies to 6,840.
Recent statistics from the General Registry state that the number of registered companies has been growing steadily since the end of 2017.
Exempt companies skyrocketed in 2018, with 13,893 new registered entities and 90,265 active entities by the end of the year. Active partnerships saw a remarkable increase too, growing from 22,655 to 26,381 by December of 2018. Foreign companies grew from 4,601 in 2017 to 5,029 in 2018, and Limited Liability Corporations grew from 889 to 1,701.
Change in Growth
In March of 2018, the number of registered companies surpassed 100,000, breaking the six-figure mark for the first time since September of 2016. Over 8,500 companies were removed from the registry that year, making it even more notable that the numbers were able to rebound so quickly.
New incorporations, however, have consistently been decreasing since late 2018. Cayman averaged 1,409 new company registrations through November, yet the average sunk to 1,050 from December to February – only 993 incorporations were formed last month.
BVI Measures Up
The British Virgin Islands also saw a marked increase in company formations; incorporations hit an almost three-year high with 9,798 new companies formed in the first few months of 2018. According to the BVI Financial Services Commission, this was the largest increase in company incorporations since the third quarter of 2015, when 11,951 companies were formed.
The BVI also saw a significant increase in the number of registered active companies, growing from 389,459 in late 2017 to 422,594 in the fall of 2018.
Unlike Cayman, the BVI has had a massive decline in the number of registered companies in the last ten years. In fact, this number has dropped from around 800,000 in the mid 2000s to 422,594 in 2018. This is, in part, likely caused by the leaked Panama Papers – documents that highlight a number of BVI-registered companies being used for illegal activities.