Built from the Inside Out — The 3Rock Story
3Rock Consulting was founded by practitioners who have spent their careers inside the frameworks they now advise on — as regulators, as assessors, and as implementers. That insider perspective is what makes 3Rock different.
Who is 3Rock Consulting?
3Rock Consulting Partners Ltd. is a boutique advisory firm specialising in international tax transparency frameworks. We advise both government tax administrations and private sector entities on the implementation of, and compliance with, the OECD's suite of tax transparency standards — including the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), Exchange of Information on Request (EOIR), and Economic Substance (ES) requirements.
We are headquartered in the Cayman Islands — one of the world's most significant international financial centres and a jurisdiction at the forefront of global tax transparency implementation. Our Europe and GCC advisory hub operates from the Canary Islands, Spain, enabling us to serve clients across the globe.
3Rock is deliberately boutique. We are not a large firm with hundreds of generalists. We are a small team of genuine specialists — people who have sat inside the OECD Global Forum Secretariat, led compliance at the Cayman Islands Department for International Tax Cooperation (DITC), and advised major Financial Institutions through Big 4 practices. That depth of experience in a focused team is what our clients engage us for.
What does the name 3Rock mean?
3Rock takes its name from the Cayman Islands' three islands — Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman. The name reflects the firm: grounded in the islands, built on deep expertise, and founded by three practitioners who have worked at the centre of the frameworks they now advise on.
Technical integrity
Tax transparency frameworks are complex, consequential, and constantly evolving. Whether you are a government preparing for an OECD peer review or a Financial Institution (FI) managing annual reporting obligations, the advice and support you receive is only as good as the technical understanding behind it. Our team has worked inside these frameworks — as regulators, assessors, and practitioners — and that experience shows in the quality of what we deliver.
Transparency
We believe the principles we advise on should apply to how we operate. Tax transparency is built on the idea that relevant information should be available to those who need it — and we hold ourselves to the same standard. Our pricing is published. Our approach is explained before you engage. Our credentials are stated plainly. For governments and private sector clients alike, there are no surprises in how we work or what we charge.
Independence
As a boutique firm, we advise without institutional conflicts. We are not part of a large network managing competing client relationships on both sides of a regulatory engagement. When we advise a government, that advice is given in the interests of that government. When we advise an FI, that advice is given in the interests of that FI. Our only obligation is to the client we are working with.
Discretion
Tax transparency work — whether at the level of government policy or entity compliance — involves sensitive information. Peer review findings, compliance gaps, enforcement history, account data. We treat every engagement with the confidentiality it deserves. All enquiries are held in strict confidence from first contact, and that standard does not change as an engagement progresses.
What is 3Rock's approach to advisory work?
We work the way the best advisory relationships work — as trusted partners, not just service providers. Our engagements are built on technical precision, practical judgment, and a genuine understanding of what implementation looks like on the ground rather than on paper.
For government clients, that means understanding the political and operational realities facing a competent authority — not just the standards they are being assessed against. We have been on both sides of the peer review table. We know what assessors look for and we know what jurisdictions struggle to demonstrate. That dual perspective is rare and it shapes everything we do.
For private sector clients, that means understanding that compliance is not a box-ticking exercise. A filing that is technically submitted but substantively incomplete is not a clean outcome. We bring the same rigour to a self-certification review as we bring to a government advisory mandate — because the consequences of getting it wrong are real in both contexts.
We are direct with our clients. If something needs to be fixed, we say so. If a proposed approach carries risk, we say so. Our value is in giving clients an honest, technically grounded assessment — not in telling them what they want to hear.
Who are the people behind 3Rock?
3Rock's founding team brings together three distinct but complementary bodies of experience — regulatory, operational, and private sector — that together cover the full spectrum of international tax transparency advisory.
Dean Lynee
Dean brings 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, with deep expertise in international tax transparency, regulatory compliance, and Financial Institution governance. He is a Compliance Officer registered with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) and specialises in FATCA, CRS, and Principal Point of Contact (PPoC) services within the Cayman Islands, supporting financial institutions, fund managers, trustees, and corporate structures in meeting their reporting and governance obligations. His clients benefit from his ability to translate evolving global standards and local regulatory requirements into practical, defensible compliance frameworks.
His career spans senior roles across banking, asset management, and audit — including Compliance Officer at Morval Bank and Trust, Audit Senior at Ernst & Young, and Compliance Officer and Americas Regional Head of Client On-Boarding at UBS Global Asset Management Fund Services. This breadth of experience across both private banking and institutional asset management gives Dean a practical understanding of how compliance obligations are implemented within complex financial structures — not just how they appear in regulatory guidance.
A Caymanian with deep roots in the local financial services community, Dean leads 3Rock's private sector advisory practice and brings extensive relationships across the Cayman Islands fund administration, trust, and corporate services industry.
BBA in Accounting and Entrepreneurship — University of Houston, Texas
International Compliance Association (ICA) — Advanced Certificate in Financial Crime and Compliance
Kuralay Baisalbayeva
Kuralay brings extensive experience in international tax transparency frameworks, with particular depth in the design and assessment of automatic exchange of information standards. She spent over five years at the OECD Global Forum Secretariat in Paris, where she served as a lead expert assessor across both the AEOI and EOIR peer review processes.
During her time at the Secretariat, Kuralay participated in the second round of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) effectiveness reviews for seven jurisdictions and the first round covering approximately twenty jurisdictions. Acting as an expert within Global Forum assessment teams, she led the evaluation of CRS frameworks, advised jurisdictions on addressing findings, and supported improvements to their ratings outcomes. She also brings direct experience in EOIR reviews, having contributed to the assessment of three jurisdictions under the EOIR peer review process.
Prior to the OECD, Kuralay worked at PwC Netherlands, where she supported the development of a Global Tax Administration Consulting practice and managed government-focused projects on co-operative compliance approaches, tax audits, and tax technology solutions.
Kuralay's background enables her to bridge international standards and domestic implementation — supporting governments in strengthening compliance frameworks, preparing for peer reviews, and achieving their strategic objectives under the Global Forum process. She is based in the Canary Islands, Spain, and leads 3Rock's Europe and GCC advisory practice, with a focus on government and competent authority clients across Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region.
BSc — KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
LL.M in International Tax Law — WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria
Craig Thomas
Craig brings over seven years of direct experience with the Cayman Islands Government's tax information exchange frameworks, most recently serving as Head of Compliance at the Cayman Islands DITC from 2022 to 2026.
Craig led the design and implementation of the CRS compliance and enforcement strategy, overseeing the full scope of compliance monitoring, verification activities, and enforcement actions against Cayman FIs. He developed the risk assessment methodology underpinning the DITC's compliance programme and managed the team responsible for its ongoing implementation — giving him an operational understanding of what effective CRS implementation looks like from the inside of a competent authority.
Craig served as a Cayman Islands delegate to both the OECD Global Forum and the Forum on Harmful Tax Practices, regularly representing the jurisdiction at OECD meetings in Paris. As an APRG-nominated AEOI Assessor, he participated in four second-round AEOI effectiveness reviews — bringing the same rigorous assessment perspective to 3Rock's government advisory work that he applied as an assessor.
His combination of domestic competent authority experience and international peer review exposure gives clients a genuinely distinctive perspective — one that bridges the view from inside a tax administration and the view of the assessment team sitting across the table from it.
Craig is originally from Canada, but has lived and worked in the Cayman Islands for over a decade. In 2026, Craig was appointed as a committee member of the Cayman Islands Compliance Association (CICA), and leads 3Rock's government advisory practice.
BA — Queen's University (Kingston, Ontario — Canada)
LL.B — University of Liverpool
Connect with 3Rock
Whether you are a tax administration preparing for a peer review, a financial institution navigating your reporting obligations, or an organisation seeking expert guidance on international tax transparency frameworks — 3Rock is here to help.
For general enquiries email us at info@3rock.ky.