Actionable intelligence on Cayman Islands, BVI, Bermuda, Bahamas, and Barbados offshore fund frameworks
The Caribbean offshore fund jurisdictions are not states, are not equivalent to one another, and are not interchangeable—but for U.S.-led private equity, hedge fund, venture capital, and family office vehicles, they are where the work actually happens. Most U.S.-managed offshore investment vehicles are formed in the Cayman Islands. Most BVI-domiciled vehicles serve adjacent or specialized roles. Bermuda anchors insurance-linked securities and certain institutional fund structures. The Bahamas operates a substantively developed framework with the SMART Fund regime. Barbados maintains a long-standing role with particular attention to Canadian-investor cross-border structures. Together these five jurisdictions account for the substantial majority of offshore fund formation work touching U.S. counsel; the remaining Caribbean states and territories operate at materially smaller scale and are addressed in this issue’s comparative framing rather than through dedicated coverage.
