BVI Government Representatives Meeting EU Officials

According to the statement issued by the BVI Government, its London Office Director and EU representative recently co-chaired an EU/OCT Financial Services Partnership Working Party meeting in Brussels, Belgium, having discussed the issue why earlier this year BVI was placed on the list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.

The Director of Policy, Research and Statistics at the BVI FSC Cherno Jallow and other OCT technical experts had the meeting on the issue with European Commission officials from the Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union, talking about the European Union position on blacklisting of Overseas Territories. By words of Jallow, the sides agreed that the inclusion of countries on the list had to be further considered in connection with co-operation between the EU and OCTs in the sphere of financial services.

Other issued discussed during the meeting were operation of the platform for tax good governance, re-launching of the common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB), Country-by-Country reporting and other EU initiatives.

The BVI FSC representative also had a meeting with the UK person on the European Parliament, Daniel Dalton, to brief him on the “high international standards met by the BVI on tax and transparency during the meeting”.

Captive Insurance Consultant Hired by BVI Finance

BVI Finance (formerly known as the BVI International Finance Centre and rebranded in 2015) has hired a senior insurance consultant, who is a trained accountant experienced in the captive insurance sector, to assist the development of the captives industry in the British Virgin Islands and improve the Financial Services sector in the territory.

Malcolm Cutts-Watson will have the duty to navigate the emerging trends and developments in the global captive market, and advice as to how the jurisdiction could benefit from the opportunities and escape any threats. He will also assist in providing competitiveness of the BVI product offering in the global market. By words of Julien Johnson, the executive director of BVI Finance, the consultant’s responsibility will include review of the relevant legislation and proposal for amendments to the Insurance (Amendment) Act 2014/2015.

Cutts-Watson currently is a non-executive director of Cutts-Watson Consulting Limited; he has more than 30 years of experience in the sector having consulted clients in Europe and Asia. Also, he is an approved manager in a number of jurisdictions, among them the greater Caribbean, USA, Bermuda, Europe, and Africa.

BVI FSC Issued 40th Volume of Statistical Bulletin

The BVI Financial Services Commission has published the fortieth volume of the Quarterly Statistical Bulletin, providing statistics on financial services activities in the jurisdiction in the third quarter of 2015. According to the statistics of the Registry of Corporate Affairs, in this period 11,951 new companies were incorporated in BVI, as compared to 11,059 companies registered in the second quarter of the year, and 11,376 companies registered in the third quarter of 2014. As at 30 September 2015, cumulative number of Business Companies registered in the British Virgin Islands was 475,309.

In Investment Business sector, 1 Investment Business licence was granted in the third quarter of 2015, as well as 23 Professional and 3 Private Mutual Fund licences. As at 30 September 2015, 483 Investment Business licences, and 1,463 Professional, 484 Private and 77 Public Mutual Fund licences were granted in the British Virgin Islands.

In the third quarter of 2015, there were 25 Licenced Insolvency Practitioners functioning in the jurisdiction. According to the Legal and Enforcement and Co-operation Statistics, there were 64 International Co-operation Matters with formal requests, 6 Co-operation Matters with informal requests, 13 Enforcement Matters and 23 Enforcement Investigations. Other information, key figures and statistics on the financial services in the British Virgin Islands in the third quarter of 2015 can be found on the home page of BVI Financial Services Commission.