Almost 117,000 companies registered in Cayman
The Cayman Islands General Registry has seen a record number of new company registrations in 2021.
Neither new legislation that requires companies in certain sectors to demonstrate economic substance on island nor plans to establish a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% appears to have influenced the demand for Cayman Islands companies.
The 16,748 companies registered in Cayman last year exceeded the previous top mark of 16,326 in 2018.
The total number of active companies on the register reached 116,996 
at the end of December 2021, General Registry statistics show. This is 4.9% increase from 2020 and a also new record high.
The number of companies registered in the islands has consistently grown since 2016.
The British Virgin Islands is the market leader in offshore company registrations, with almost 372,000 active companies at the end of the third quarter 2021.
The BVI has seen a marked decline in company formations compared to 2007 when the islands registered more than 77,000 new companies in a single year.
However, the financial crisis, the Panama Papers revelations, the effects of Hurricane Irma in 2017 and, finally, the COVID pandemic have dented the industry somewhat.
Still, the BVI is expected to have registered between 30,000 and 40,000 new companies in 2021, more than in the two previous years.
Meanwhile, the number of Cayman Islands partnerships exceeded 35,000 last year, following a 10.5% increase compared to 2020.
Partnership formations set a new top mark in 2021, with 5,774 new partnerships registered in Cayman, compared with 2,045 terminations.
Issued by: Cayman Compass (click here for direct link)