BVI Presents on China Offshore Summit

Martin Crawford, chief executive of Offshore Incorporations Ltd, has referred to the status of the British Virgin Islands jurisdiction as the leading one for Chinese investors and entrepreneurs, during the China Offshore Summit recently held in Shanghai and attended by more than 350 Chinese wealth planners, bankers, lawyers, and offshore professionals.

In his presentation he named the reasons why the BVI is the most complete jurisdiction for the needs of Chinese investors, among them opportunities for non tax-driven structures such as asset protection, wealth management, funds management, investment holdings, trading, special purpose vehicles, and listing vehicles for IPOs. It was stated by him as an example that 60 per cent of the multi-million dollar London properties, owned by Chinese citizens, were purchased through BVI entities.

The chief executive of one of offshore industry leaders made his presentation on behalf of the BVI International Finance Centre (BVI IFC), platinum sponsor of the summit. Christopher McKenzie, representative of BVI law firm O'Neal Webster, promoted BVI trusts on a panel discussion titled Strategies for Family Business Succession, while Janice Skelton of Newhaven Corporate Services described the benefits of the BVI on a panel on Selecting Jurisdictions for Chinese Private Wealth Management. Barry Mitchell and Charlie Sparrow of law firm Maples and Calder presented on the benefits of BVI Trusts for Asian IPOs. On the second day, there was a two-hour special feature on the BVI jurisdiction, which included presentations and panel discussions under the theme BVI: The Complete Offshore Solution. There was also an update on BVI House Asia, established in Hong Kong this year.