AI market round-up: Caymans hit 8,000 mark

More than 8,000 hedge funds are now registered in the Cayman Islands – up more than 2,000 on the beginning of 2005. More than 1,000 new hedge funds were authorized in the first half of 2006 alone, a record for any six-month reporting period in the Cayman Islands, according to the jurisdiction’s Monetary Authority. “We continue to see strong hedge fund interest globally from investors in Asia and the Middle East, as well as US and UK institutions,” says Jonathan Tonge, investment funds group managing partner for offshore law firm Walkers. “The number of hedge funds being terminated has also risen, but with a steady increase in new hedge fund registrations, the termination to new fund registration ratio remains at 1:3.”