You’d think that with our reputation as an offshore financial center, we’d have excellent banks for residents. In reality, however, local banks in the Cayman Islands are stuck in the ’90s and are nothing short of terrible. Their online banking and customer support are lacking, and tasks like wiring funds internationally—normally straightforward—are a massive hassle. I’m not singling out any one bank; none of them are good. I also don’t have experience with the international (offshore) banks here, so I’m speaking strictly about domestic banks.

The unfortunate reality is that you do need a local bank account to live here. Paying school fees, utilities, strata bills, and similar local expenses is far easier if you can transfer funds directly to recipients. This is essentially the only reason I continue to maintain accounts with local banks.

The topic of how poor local banks are comes up frequently among friends and colleagues. What surprised me is how many people rely solely on local banks to fulfill all their banking needs.

Personally, I branched out a long time ago and now maintain accounts with various banks and money service businesses (MSBs), including Wise.com and Mercury.com. Both offer quick and painless onboarding for Cayman residents, making them my top two choices.

🥇Wise.com (Best for Personal Accounts)

Before opening an account with Wise, I spent a long time searching for a suitable solution. It can be challenging to find platforms that accept Cayman residents because of our location. I’m not sure if it’s because Wise is UK-based and the Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory, but for whatever reason, Wise accepts residents from here. I’m very happy I found them.

Onboarding and getting started with Wise is straightforward: once you complete their forms and upload the necessary documents, you should be up and running. If they need more information, they’ll get in touch.

Wise has just enough features and options to serve as a great banking platform—no bloat, just everything you need. Two features I particularly appreciate are the ability to send payments via ACH in the US and via eTransfer in Canada.

If you’re looking for a top-tier money services platform for personal use, I can’t recommend Wise highly enough. Unfortunately, at this time Wise is not onboarding Cayman residents for business accounts.

Pros

Quick digital onboarding process
Fast domestic USD transfers using ACH
Transfers in Canada via eTransfer (Interac)
Immediate ability to receive and pay in USD, GBP, CAD (over 40 currencies)
Affordable transfer costs, a fraction of traditional bank fees
Direct connection to Interactive Brokers (easy fund transfers)
Visa Infinite physical credit card
Access to digital-only credit cards for online use
Clean, intuitive user interface
All the essential features to operate your account efficiently

Cons

Accounts for Cayman residents are not FDIC-insured
Cannot establish a business account for a Cayman company

Click here to visit Wise.com to open an account today.

🥇Mercury.com (Best for Business Accounts)

Opening bank accounts or money service accounts for a Cayman company can be very challenging—more so than personal accounts. The due diligence required for onboarding is not for the faint of heart. I’ve opened many company accounts for Cayman entities over the years, so discovering Mercury was a breath of fresh air.

Mercury is a money services and technology company, which makes its onboarding process quick and efficient. If you’re opening a business account, just note that you’ll need to upload several documents, so have them ready.

I’ve been using Mercury for a few years and really like almost everything about it. However, there is one big caveat that might be a deal-breaker for many: Cayman companies are not permitted to wire funds outside of the United States. For my needs, I mainly use this account for receivables. When I make payments, I use Mercury’s credit card or a PayPal account linked to Mercury. If you need to withdraw money, it helps to have a US personal account (such as one with Wise) to receive domestic ACH transfers.

Although Mercury works well for Cayman companies, it’s not really designed with us in mind. It’s tailored more toward the needs of US-based businesses.

Pros

Simple, efficient onboarding
User-friendly, intuitive platform
Quick process for creating additional or segregated accounts
Excellent reporting features, filters, and export functionality
Robust permissions for assigning various roles
Workflows and automation features that make it a joy to use

Cons

Only USD accounts are currently offered to Cayman companies
No ability to wire funds outside the US for Cayman companies
The only available currency denomination is USD
Low spending limit on the card ($2,500). (This may be raised, but I haven’t investigated it)

Click here to visit Mercury.com to open an account today.

In conclusion, if you’re a Cayman resident looking for better banking solutions, Wise.com and Mercury.com should be at the top of your list. Wise is ideal for personal use, while Mercury is a straightforward option for business purposes—provided you can work around the restrictions on international wires.