A warm climate, sandy beaches and tax-free income have lured many Irish finance professionals to the Cayman Islands in recent years, with about 2,000 Irish ex-pats making a strong impact on the local economy.
In 2002, on a cold and rainy February in Cork, young accountant Ronan Guilfoyle received an email from a former colleague who had made the move to the British dependency in the Caribbean and was instantly struck by the contrast in the lifestyle between Ireland and there.
“On my laptop, I could see pictures of Irish people enjoying sun-drenched beaches, a GAA club and an Irish bar. What the hell I am doing here, I thought,” he recalls.
Guilfoyle asked if the former colleague could help him get a job, which she was delighted to do. “In those days, the jobs were advertised in the local Cayman newspaper and she FedExed me a copy and helped set up an interview in a fund administration company.
“I flew there in April and started a job almost immediately. I was 25, worked with a load of Irish people and played football. It was a really enjoyable time. I got promoted within six months and soon it was really hard to leave.”
Twenty-three years on, Guilfoyle still has no intentions of leaving. Today, he runs his own 15-strong fund governance company, is married to fellow Cork-born Cait Kelleher and is raising a young family on Grand Cayman, the largest of the three islands in the dependency.
Guilfoyle quickly developed expertise in fund governance, which involves serving on the boards of investment funds, advising managers and representing investors on the boards of Cayman Islands hedge funds. The financial crisis of 2008 led to lots of funds becoming distressed and it was a busy time for those working in this niche.
Having been a partner in two firms, he launched his own firm with his friend and industry colleague Wade Kenny in 2015. The firm is called Calderwood, the name of the road grew up on. Among other services, it provides independent directors to hedge funds and private equity funds.
“When people ask me to explain what we do, I draw the analogy that we’re like a referee in a game. We’re not the players, we’re not the coach but we’re there to make sure the game runs according to the rule book and that those who break the rules are held to task.
“So, we attend board meetings every quarter and we get reports from the fund administrator, the investment manager, lawyers and compliance officers. It’s an ongoing monitoring check to ensure that the investors’ interests are being looked after.”
Kelleher, a senior manager with Grant Thornton’s asset management team in Cayman, is a former Camogie All-Ireland minor medal winner for Cork and sister of Liverpool and Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher. The couple and their young children spend extended time in Ireland in the summer and have homes in Cork and Dunquin in Co Kerry.
“We spend nine months of the year here and its safe and clean in Cayman. Local amenities are good and most days when you open up the blinds, it is sunny outside.
“The weather certainly impacts on your mood, and it provides a nice start to the day. It’s a good climate for outdoor life and it encourages you to be more active. I golf every week and do cross-fit and Cait is very active in the GAA club here.”
The population of the Cayman Islands has been increasing in recent years and now numbers more than 80,000. Its capital Georgetown is popular with tourists and more than a million cruise ship passengers disembark there every year.
The two working centres of the main island are called Cricket Square and Camana Bay. Guilfoyle’s office is in the former, while his house is close to the latter.
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“I have the best of both worlds being home in the summer and at Christmas and I get my fill of family and culture and Irishness during those trips. But I also go to New York six times a year as well as London twice a year on business. We get to take short trips to places like Florida (about 480 miles away), for example. I don’t miss culture as I can go to a show in New York or a basketball game. We go to see premiership matches in the UK.”
While the Cayman island enjoys year-round sunshine, one quirk of the climate is that the sun sets early – at about 6.30pm on average throughout the year, with little variation in the summer.
“There was a debate about changing the clock to get more daylight, but they decided to retain the status quo. That’s not necessarily a bad thing when you are trying to get young children to bed in the evening, mind you and we’re all in bed by around 9pm in any case,” he says.
