BVI Premier and Opposition Speak about UK Amendments

After the discussions with the UK parliamentarians concerning the controversial amendments to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill, BVI Premier Dr Orlando Smith made the statement where he said: “Be in no doubt, that if the UK Parliament proceeds with seeking to impose public registers on the British Virgin Islands, this could fundamentally alter our relationship with the UK and we will take all necessary steps to protect our constitutional rights.”

In his turn, the Opposition Leader Andrew Fahie agreed that this is a “constitutional overreach”, and said that the Opposition and Premier “stand united on protecting the constitutional rights of the British Virgin Islands.” 

The UK amendments impose the requirement for its Overseas Territories including the British Virgin Islands to make public the names of beneficial owners of offshore companies incorporated in the jurisdictions. This could bring harm to the financial services sector which is so important to the BVI, comprising about 60 percent of its annual revenue.

In another press release, the BVI Premier noted that the BVI will not impose public registers unless they are a global standard.

BVI FSC Issued Financial Services Statistics for Q4 2017

The BVI Financial Services Commission has issued the forty-ninth volume of Quarterly Statistical Bulletin, providing information and analysis of financial services activities in the BVI in the fourth quarter of 2017. In this period, according to the Registry of Corporate Affairs the number of new company incorporations was 8,538 - an increase as compared to the third quarter of 2017 and also the fourth quarter of 2016. Cumulative number of companies as at 31 December 2017 was 389,459. The number of newly registered Private Trust Companies and Limited Partnerships also was higher in the reported period than in the previous quarter of the year, and their cumulative number was 1,089 and 812, respectively. Total number of BVI Business Companies registered in year 2017 was 32,493, which is an increase after the minimum of the previous year.

In Investment Business, there was also an increase in the last quarter of the year, with 30 total funds registered after 11 in the third quarter and 18 in the fourth quarter of 2016. Cumulative number of funds made 1,499 as at 31 December 2017. Total number of Insolvency Practitioners remained the same as in Q3 2017, as well as the total number of Licensed Insurers and Functionaries. 

In the sphere of International Co-operation, there were 18 Formal Incoming requests and 62 Enforcement Matters in the reported period, which is less than in the previous quarter of the year. Also, in Q4 2017 there were 111 ongoing supervision matters referred to the Licensing and Supervisory Committee and related to Banking, Insolvency and Fiduciary services, 50 related to Investment Business, and 19 related to Insurance.