ANALYSIS-Cayman bankers lobby Washington to redefine image

By Kim Dixon

WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) - A group from the Cayman Islands lobbied Washington this week to redefine the image of its banks and other financial institutions after President Barack Obama singled out the British territory as a tax haven.

Tony Travers, head of the Cayman Islands Financial Services Association (CIFSA), argues that the islands are getting a bad rap, and he met with lawmakers, staff of members of the Senate Financial Committee and policy experts during his trip to Washington to say so.

"What does trouble us to the point where we are bemused, bothered and bewildered is the rhetoric, the constant reference to Cayman," Travers told Reuters during his visit.

But tax experts said that while Cayman is not the world's worst offender as tax havens go, it has a lot to address.

"I'm not terribly sympathetic," said Alex Raskolnikov, a professor and tax expert at Columbia University Law School.

"Is it true that there are worse offenders? Yes. But it is also probably true that they have been facilitating tax avoidance."

Obama has hammered tax havens, saying U.S. companies and individuals using them should not "dodge their responsibilities while ordinary Americans pick up the slack."