(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. 

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(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.

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(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.

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(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.

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(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.

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(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.

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(CNS): Following the huge take up on the Cayman Islands Development Bank’s low cost loans to help struggling businesses through the recession, the government has sourced more cash to keep the programme going. First Caribbean Bank has stepped in to fund the programme with a loan of US$5 million to the CIDB at 3.2%, which will be guaranteed by the government. The premier and minister of finance brought the motion for approval of the guarantee to the Legislative Assembly on Monday to enable the Development Bank to meet loans which have already been approved and offer more new ones. (Left: CIDB chair Paul Byles)

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(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.)

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