The Mutual Funds Act — Cayman Islands (2021 Revision)

The Mutual Funds Act is Cayman's regime for open-ended funds — vehicles whose investors can redeem their interests at will — and it works by sorting them into regulatory categories with different entry routes into CIMA supervision. The common route is the registered fund (a minimum initial investment per investor, or a listing), alongside administered and licensed funds and the limited-investor fund. Whatever the category, a regulated mutual fund carries continuing duties: an annual audit by a CIMA-approved auditor and an annual return and fee. It is the open-ended counterpart to the Private Funds Act.

Scope and the fund categories

The Act turns on redeemability: a "mutual fund" issues equity interests that an investor is entitled to have redeemed or repurchased. The category then determines the supervision route — a registered fund typically qualifies via a minimum initial investment per investor (commonly cited at US$100,000) or an exchange listing; an administered fund runs through a licensed Cayman administrator; a licensed fund holds a licence directly; and a limited-investor fund keeps its investor count low. All regulated categories share the audit-and-return backbone. The full section-by-section text (definitions, categories, licensing, audit, offences) is searchable clause-by-clause through the regulation graph and ask-the-law.

The gotcha: the category you fall into is a function of how you are structured and marketed, not a box you tick — get the redeemability and investor-count analysis right up front, because it decides your CIMA route and your ongoing cost.