Built from the Inside Out
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 financial institutions on the implementation of, and compliance with, the OECD's suite of tax transparency standards — including the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), Exchange of Information on Request (EOIR), and Economic Substance 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, giving us reach across European and Middle Eastern markets. We serve clients globally, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region, the Caribbean, and international financial centres worldwide.
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 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 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.
What does 3Rock stand for?
The Cayman Islands are three islands — Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac — risen from limestone out of the Caribbean Sea. 3Rock takes its name from that foundation: solid, enduring, and built to withstand scrutiny.
Technical integrity
We do not cut corners on technical accuracy. The frameworks we advise on are complex, nuanced, and consequential. Our team's backgrounds mean we understand these standards at the level of the people who wrote and assessed them. That depth of knowledge is the foundation of everything we do.
Transparency
We believe the principles we advise on should apply to how we operate. Our pricing is published. Our approach is explained. Our credentials are stated plainly. Clients should know exactly what they are engaging before they engage it.
Independence
As a boutique firm we have no institutional conflicts of interest. We are not part of a large network with competing client relationships. Our advice is given in the interests of the client we are advising, not in the interests of a broader practice relationship.
Discretion
The work we do involves sensitive information — for governments and private sector clients alike. We treat every engagement with the confidentiality it deserves. All enquiries are treated in strict confidence from the first contact.
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
Kuralay Baisalbayeva
Craig Thomas
Dean brings over 24 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 the Founder and Managing Director of Tri-Bridge Compliance Partners Ltd., a Cayman-based compliance advisory firm.
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.
Dean 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.
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 Advanced Certificate in Financial Crime and Compliance — International Compliance Association (ICA)
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 nearly 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 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 Exchange of Information on Request 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 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 Department for International Tax Cooperation (DITC) from 2022 to 2026.
As a member of the DITC's Senior Management Team, Craig led the design and implementation of the Cayman Islands' CRS compliance and enforcement strategy, overseeing the full scope of compliance monitoring, verification activities, and enforcement actions against Reporting Financial Institutions. 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 Canadian, has lived and worked in the Cayman Islands for over a decade, and leads 3Rock's government advisory practice. He holds a BA from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario and an LL.B from the University of Liverpool, Truman Bodden Law School, Cayman Islands.
BA — Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
LL.B — University of Liverpool, Truman Bodden Law School, Cayman Islands
How can we help?
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.