Currency

Answer Your Financial Needs

Banks: Although Grand Cayman now has more than 259 licensed banks, only a handful are full-service retail banks providing customer banking services as visitors know it. These include Scotiabank & Trust (Cayman) Ltd., Butterfield Bank (Cayman) Limited, Royal Bank of Canada, Cayman National Bank Ltd., First Caribbean International Bank (Cayman) Limited. Regular banking hours are 9: 00 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 4:30 p.m. on Friday.

The Cayman Islands has its own currency, first issued in 1972, whose basic unit is the dollar, issued in notes with denominations of CI$100, 50, 25, 10, 5 and 1 and coins valued at 25 cents, 10, 5 and 1 cent. The CI dollar has a fixed exchange rate with the US dollar of CI$1.00 equals US$1.25. Or, the US dollar equals CI $.80.

There is no need for visitors to exchange their US dollars into local currency. The US dollar is accepted throughout the islands at a rate of CI 80 cents. However, this can be confusing to visitors: for example, a US$20 note becomes CI$16. Banks do NOT give a better rate of exchange! Major credit cards (with the exception of the Discover Card) and travellers checks are widely accepted.  Canadian dollars, Euro dollars and pounds sterling can be exchanged for CI dollars at local banks.

In addition, Automatic Teller Machines accepting VISA and MasterCard with Cirrus affiliation are located at Cayman National Bank and other banks and at Owen Roberts International Airport as well as a few other locations such as the grocery stores.

Cayman Islands' Financial Services Industry

Since the 1960s, the Cayman Islands has successfully invested its "historic capital" - English common law and tax neutrality (both dating back to the time of the first settlement in the 1700s) - in the development of its thriving financial services sector. More than forty years later, the Cayman Islands is recognised as a sophisticated, experienced and diverse financial centre. Over the past 15 years in particular, the Cayman Islands has focussed on two main objectives: building world-class specialisation in institutional business to complement private client offerings and developing strong international cooperation arrangements with the U.S. and other countries.

Today, the Cayman Islands financial services industry encompasses banking, mutual funds, captive insurance, vessel registration, companies and partnerships, trusts, structured finance and the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange. More information can be found at www.caymanfinace.gov.ky.