New Guidance Notes on Revocation or Cancellation of Licences and Certificates Published by BVI FSC

On 9 April 2008 British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission has presented the 'Guidance Notes on Revocation or Cancellation including Solvent Liquidation'. The document is providing a framework for voluntary revocation and cancellation of licences and certificates of regulated persons, and the approval of solvent liquidation procedures.

The BVI FSC has issued the Guidance Notes with respect to voluntary cancellation of licences or certificates under the Mutual Funds Act, 1996, revocation of licences under the Financial Services Commission Act, 2001, and voluntary liquidation of the company which is a regulated person under the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004.

Issued Guidance Notes contain matters relating to the revocation or cancellation of licences or certificates of regulated persons, and the approval of solvent liquidation procedures, and all the future deals concerned with these matters will be dealt in accordance with this document.

The document consists of two parts, the first part is devoted to Revocation or Cancellation of Licences or Certificates of regulated persons, the second part concerns Approval of Solvent Liquidation.

The document was approved by the Board of Commissioners on April 1, 2008, under the signature of Kenneth Baker, Deputy Managing Director of the BVI Financial Services Commission, and published on April 8, 2008.

Chinese FDI for Q1 2008 to Increase by 61.26%, BVI being the Second FDI Source

The Ministry of Commerce of China has published FDI statistics for the first three months of the year 2008. The reported foreign direct investment inflow into the country's economy in this period continued to increase and made US$27.414 bln – up 61.26% from the same period of the previous year.

Among the top three sources of FDI inflow in the country's economy in the first three months of the year 2008 there were British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong and Singapore, BVI again being the second in the list of top investors.

Only in March 2008, FDI stood at US$9.286 bln – that is up 39.6% compared to the previous year. According to the ministry's statistics, there were 6,949 new foreign-funded enterprises in the first three months of 2008, that is down 25.5% from a year earlier.

BVI Becomes Popular for the Registration of Non-UK Companies Listed on London AIM

On April 11, a report was released by Hemscott, revealing the current positions of the BVI as the 4th most popular country of registration for non-UK AIM 100 companies by company count and 3rd most popular by market capitalization.

So, BVI is becoming increasingly popular for AIM companies, and is globally accepted as a sophisticated jurisdiction for the incorporation of offshore business companies. Due to its flexible regulatory regime and beneficial corporate legislation, BVI became the most popular offshore companies jurisdiction in the world, having formed more than 850,000 offshore companies during these years.

One of the leading BVI law firms Harney Westwood & Riegels expressed enthusiasm about great market success of BVI companies. According to Harneys partner Leonard Birmingham, BVI companies are “reliable vehicles for AIM listings that enjoy considerable investor confidence”.

BVI Delegation Undertakes Acquaintance Visit to the Gulf Region

A delegation from the BVI FSC and territory's autonomous financial regulatory agency met Qatar Financial Centre Authority, QFC Regulatory Authority and Qatar Financial Centre to talk on BVI's regulations, private wealth management and corporate activities. During its visit to Doha in April 2 and 3, the British Virgin Islands delegation met with QFC director-general Stuart Pearce and a senior executive of QIA, and held a seminar on ‘Opportunities for Growth in Financial Services’ in BVI.

This was the first visit of a group from the BVI to the Gulf region, and the delegation was keen to catch the experience of Qatar's development as one of the leading financial centres in the Middle East, and to share its own experience of an established offshore financial centre.

The delegation was leaded by Robert Mathavious, managing director and CEO of BVI FSC, and by Lorna Smith, executive director of International Finance Centre; both of them expressed optimism concerning long-term relationship between the financial systems of Qatar and BVI. Lorna Smith said that since Qatar was home to many luxury yachts, their owners would have the opportunity to get their vessels registered in BVI, after the jurisdiction will receive the Category 1 status for shipping. Smith also said that high net worth individuals in Qatar could seek BVI's expertise in wealth management and tax planning among other portfolios. In her words, BVI is also the fourth largest domicile for captive insurance, and there are a number of opportunities for tax management.

Robert Mathavious also welcomed the recent ranking of the BVI on the 27th place in the list of London's Global Financial Centres Index. It was also placed among the world's “most stable” financial centres.

As part of a fact-finding mission to the Gulf, a delegation of Government and private sector officials from the BVI visited Dubai on March 30 – April 1, the BVI Seminar was held on 31 March 2008 at the Burj Al Arab. The focus of discussion was corporate and investment business and trusts and estate planning.