The people of Cayman are, by and large, content with the British monarchy, and have never been inclined to change their destiny at the flip of a coin. So it is no surprise that the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has begun reissuing the national coinage with the image of King Charles III, replacing that of the late Queen Elizabeth II, who died on 8 September 2022 after a reign of more than 70 years and whose portrait has been on all Cayman currency since it was issued in 1972.

The King's likeness is now being phased onto a currency that has long punched above its weight, fixed at CI$1 to US$1.20 against the American greenback. The Authority announced the 2026 series coins "have begun entering circulation, starting with the lower denominations."

That announcement came in two parts. A media release dated 9 October 2026 gave the public a first look at the four new coins and said they would begin entering circulation the following week, with the official date to be posted on the Authority's website. A public notice dated 16 October 2026 then confirmed that the rollout had begun and that the remaining denominations would follow in stages.

A gradual start

Eagle-eyed shoppers may already have spotted the newly minted small change bearing the King. The Authority said the higher denominations "will be introduced over the coming months, as the full 2026 coin series is gradually released into circulation," and that "only a limited number of new coins are currently in circulation." A further update is promised on its website once the rollout is complete.

The familiar images on the reverse are staying put. CIMA's published specifications still give the one-cent piece the Grand Cayman thrush and the ten-cent piece a sea turtle, and the 2026 coins keep "the weights, dimensions, metallic alloys, and the iconic reverse-side designs" of their predecessors.

Those specifications are precise. The one-cent piece is copper-plated steel, 17 millimetres across and 2.55 grams in weight. The five-cent, ten-cent and 25-cent pieces are nickel-plated steel, at 18, 20.96 and 24.26 millimetres and 2, 3.45 and 5.1 grams respectively. A 2026 coin should therefore feel and weigh exactly like the coin it replaces, which is the point of the Authority's promise to preserve "the familiar look and feel."

CIMA's published currency statistics put CI$173.9 million in circulation at the end of the third quarter of 2026, of which CI$158.2 million was in notes and CI$15.7 million in coin. Every one of those coins carried the Queen at that date, and the Authority has said hers will remain legal tender and circulate alongside the King's for the foreseeable future.

The thrush and the turtle

The penny again carries the Grand Cayman thrush, a bird found nowhere else on earth. The National Trust for the Cayman Islands recorded in a release of 26 July 2023 that the thrush "was last seen in 1938 and is now considered extinct," which makes the humble one-cent coin the only place most of us will ever meet it. The Trust was announcing that the Grand Cayman bullfinch had been recognised as a full endemic species, and described the thrush as "the only other modern endemic bird." The dime still shows a sea turtle surfacing for air amid its ripples, a national emblem in miniature on a nickel-plated disc.

For now the nickel and the quarter still show the Queen, and all four of the old coins are likely to become mementos in years to come. The five-cent piece shows the Caribbean spiny lobster, and the quarter a Cayman schooner, the vessel that carried generations of Caymanian men to sea and the one design on the coinage that is a monument to people rather than wildlife.

Back to the coin purse

CIMA says the coins are minted by Monnaie de Paris, "reflecting the Authority's commitment to quality, tradition, and international craftsmanship. For the first time, the obverse side of each coin features a portrait of His Majesty King Charles III, symbolising a new chapter for the Cayman Islands. While the portrait has been updated, the weights, dimensions, metallic alloys, and the iconic reverse-side designs remain unchanged, preserving the familiar look and feel."

The choice of the French state mint is itself a small change of tradition. CIMA's own account of the coinage records that the Cayman coins were struck by the British Royal Mint until 1977, and by the Franklin Mint in the United States for the coins dated 1977 to 1984. The Authority has not said what the 2026 order cost or how many coins were struck, and it has not said whether the Monnaie de Paris contract was put out to tender.

Patrick Bodden, the Authority's Acting Chief Executive Officer, welcomed the change in the October notice: "Our national currency is more than a medium of exchange, it reflects our history, our identity, and our connection to the wider world. The introduction of these new coins marks an important moment for the Cayman Islands, and we are proud to share this transition with the community." A limited-edition collectors' set of all four coins goes on sale later this year.

The set will carry all four denominations sealed in a blister pack, the Authority said, and the price has not been published. Day-to-day responsibility for the rollout sits with CIMA's Currency Division, headed since 1 January 2026 by Dominique Lloyd, who was promoted from deputy head in the round of senior appointments the Authority announced on 2 April 2026.

How Cayman's changeover compares

Cayman is late to the change, and deliberately slow in making it. In the United Kingdom the Royal Mint announced on 28 October 2022, seven weeks after the Queen's death, that the first circulating coin bearing the King, a memorial 50 pence piece, would start appearing in change from December 2022, with 9.6 million struck for the first release. The Mint said then that "all UK coins bearing the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II will remain legal tender and in active circulation," and noted that the coins of successive monarchs have commonly circulated together.

The Bank of England took longer with the paper. It issued the first King Charles III banknotes on 5 June 2024, adding the King's portrait to the existing £5, £10, £20 and £50 designs, and said the Queen's polymer notes "will remain legal tender, and will co-circulate alongside King Charles III notes." The Bank said new notes would be printed mainly to replace worn ones, following guidance from the Royal Household intended to limit the environmental and financial cost of the change, so that the King's notes would appear "very gradually."

Among the Overseas Territories, Gibraltar received royal approval in 2023 for its first circulating currency set of the new reign, covering every denomination up to £5, according to a Government of Gibraltar release of 1 February 2024. Cayman's first circulating coins of the reign arrived in October 2026, four years and one month after the accession, and its gradual rollout is the approach the Bank of England adopted for the notes.

The notes are another matter

All coins featuring Queen Elizabeth II remain legal tender and are expected to circulate alongside the 2026 series for the foreseeable future, so there is no need to raid the jar. The notes are another matter. On 30 January 2023 CIMA announced that the banknotes "will be phased out and replaced with a new design featuring an effigy of His Majesty King Charles III."

That announcement, which invited the public to suggest themes for the new notes, described a complete redesign undertaken jointly with the Cayman Islands Government and said the process "is expected to be completed in 2024," after which the Authority would authorise production and "decide on potential issue dates." The 2024 target has passed. The Authority's circulating banknotes page still describes notes bearing the Queen, no issue date for notes carrying the King has been published, and neither the 9 October release nor the 16 October notice mentions the banknotes at all.

The 2023 announcement was also the only occasion on which the public was asked for a view. CIMA said then that it was "seeking the public's input via an online survey" to "determine which theme is most preferred for the new banknote designs," with room for respondents to "submit additional ideas of their own." The Authority has not published how many people answered, which themes they preferred, or what became of the ideas; the survey is the one public consultation on the King's currency, and its results remain with CIMA.

From Currency Board to Monetary Authority

Since financial services are the central pillar of the economy, it is worth recalling where the coins come from. The Cayman Islands Currency Board was created by the Currency Law of 1971 to administer the physical issue and redemption of currency, and began operating on 1 May 1972. The Board's role grew over the years to include an investment policy and a clearing system for the local banks, and on 1 January 1997 its functions passed to the newly created Monetary Authority, established under the Monetary Authority Law, 1996.

The Cayman dollar replaced the Jamaican dollar on that May day in 1972, and Jamaican currency ceased to be legal tender in the Islands on 31 August of the same year, according to CIMA's published history of the currency. The Authority itself was formed by amalgamating the Currency Board with the Financial Services Supervision Department, so that the body which prints the money is also the one that supervises the banks that hold it, an arrangement that has lasted 29 years.

Sir Vassel Johnson, Financial Secretary from 1965 to 1982, chaired the Currency Board from 1972 to 1982 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994. His role in shaping the regulatory foundations of the offshore financial sector is why the currency he once signed for might still turn up at the counter.

Collectors and the coin jar

The 2026 series is the first change to the circulating coinage in a generation, but not the Authority's first venture into coins for the cabinet rather than the counter. CIMA's numismatic page lists collector issues "issued in limited numbers as collectables," most of them sterling silver, from the Constitution coins of 2009 to the Platinum Jubilee coin of 2022 and the Sea Life programmes of 2023 and 2024, the latter produced with Scottsdale Mint.

The 2026 collectors' set is different in kind: it is the circulating coinage itself, sealed before it reaches a pocket. The Authority has not said how many sets will be made or what they will cost, only that they will be available "later this year." For everyone else, the advice implicit in CIMA's announcements is to do nothing. The Queen's coins remain legal tender, CIMA has announced no exchange deadline, and the King's will reach the change gradually, in stages, over the coming months.

As a British Overseas Territory the three Cayman Islands remain under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, and the face on the small change is the daily reminder. The next reminder will come when the five-cent and 25-cent pieces reach the tills, on a timetable CIMA has yet to publish.