Statement of Cooperation Signed by BVI FSC and US Banking Regulators

The British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission entered into an arrangement with the US banking regulators – the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of Thrift Supervision. The purpose of the arrangement is to share supervisory information to enhance the regulation of the banking industry and to promote the functioning of banks and banking organizations in the US and in the British Virgin Islands.

Through the Statement of Cooperation, the US banking regulators and the Commission expressed their willingness to “cooperate on the basis of mutual trust and understanding in the supervision of cross-border establishments of banks and banking organizations incorporated in the United States and the British Virgin Islands”.

Talking about sharing of information, the authorities of both jurisdictions recognized that close communications between home and host supervisors “would be mutually advantageous”. It is stated in the document that “cooperation would include contact during the authorization process of a cross-border establishment, as well as its ongoing activities”.

Regulators of both jurisdictions are going to conduct meetings as often as appropriate to discuss issues concerning banking, and to make every effort to encourage continuous and informal contacts between the parties.