The Chamber of Commerce will be conducting its third Economic Crime Survey of the decade this year. In partnership with KRyS Global, the survey will determine recent trends in financial crime and the impact of economic crime on the Cayman Islands.
88% of the Chamber membership completed the last survey (which was published in 2011) and it was reported that between 2006 and 2010 there was an increased in the percentage of businesses experiencing economic crime.
Almost half of the respondents of the 2011 survey also expected the threat of economic crime to increase in the coming years, and indicated that the main economic threats to Cayman Businesses were asset misappropriation, money laundering, insolvency/insurance fraud, identity theft, and bribery & corruption.
The 2016 survey will seek to identify the current types of economic crime most likely to affect the Cayman Islands, as well as determining what progress has been made in the last five years in regards to combatting economic crime.
In relation to the aims of the survey, Kenneth Krys, Founder and Executive Chairman of KRyS Global explained: “in order to grow and develop business in Cayman, companies need to understand their weaknesses, but also the environment in which they operate. Knowledge is power and gaining an understanding of the very real threats that exist will encourage business leaders to put the tools in place to protect themselves. We are pleased to be able to participate in this, our third survey with the Chamber of Commerce, which promises to be informative and will assist businesses in planning their own controls and we hope that this year all members will get behind this initiative and complete this worthwhile survey.”
Paul Pearson, Chamber President, also commented, stating: “We would like to express our sincere gratitude to those individual members who have taken the time to participate in our previous surveys. The benefit of conducting this survey again is to assist decision makers, both within our members and externally, to understand the current threats to Cayman businesses and how best to address those going forward to ensure that Cayman remains an attractive place to do business”. All Chamber members will be invited to take part in the Economic Crime Survey, and will be sent an email at some point in early July. All members are strongly encouraged to complete the survey before the August 31st closing date.
The data gathered from the survey will ultimately be analysed by KRyS Global, and all respondents will receive a complimentary copy of the report which will provide insight into the thoughts, threats, and concerns of local business owners.