Hong Kong/Tortola, 25 November: The British Virgin Islands (BVI) has been ranked the most important offshore financial services jurisdiction, it was announced recently.
BVI was named in an independent industry report entitled “Offshore 2020”, as the most important offshore jurisdiction for the sixth consecutive year. More than 300 global financial services industry participants contributed to this report, which explores key trends and issues facing the global offshore financial services industry. Once again, industry practitioners have singled out the BVI for a number of factors including its ease of doing business, speed and efficiency, legal and commercial certainty, as well as its robust regulatory standards.
The authors of this report highlighted that the BVI offers a well-entrenched conduit for corporate vehicles and funds and it expects that it will continue its positive trajectory into 2020. This underscores a major trend from last year’s report, which was that the demise of offshore has been predicted every year, but despite this the BVI as a jurisdiction, continues to lead the way.
Martin Crawford, CEO of Vistra Group
This was very much the message conveyed in a presentation entitled “BVI Leading from the Front” which was presented by Martin Crawford, Chief Executive Officer of Vistra Group, the parent company for the incorporation giant in the region. In his presentation he stated that the BVI continues to be in pole position when compared to other offshore jurisdictions. He also added that the BVI continues to be the structure of choice for both corporates and individuals in Greater China and is increasingly being used for non-tax driven purposes for asset protection, wealth management and also as a listing vehicle for initial public offerings. He concluded that the BVI is well positioned to serve more sophisticated clients due to its focus on value-add rather than pure volume.
Industry practitioners based in Hong Kong support this view.
Alan Collins, Executive Director of Newhaven commented: “The BVI is an excellent brand and has been for many years. Despite the challenges the offshore industry has faced, it continues to be a favourite because people know the BVI, they know the level of support they will get and they know the strength of its infrastructure.”
Richard Hall, Partner, Conyers Dill & Pearman said: “Looking ahead we expect to see the use of BVI structures increase, with BVI companies increasingly used as listing vehicles. The BVI experience is seamless and in many cases those who have for whatever reason chosen to use other weaker jurisdictions have returned to use BVI structures because it is the best in the market.”
Elise Donovan, Director of BVI House Asia
Welcoming these findings of the report, Elise Donovan, Director of BVI House Asia said: “We welcome the findings of this industry report and are pleased to receive such recognition once again from industry practitioners around the world. This is clear recognition of the depth and breadth of our offering and most importantly this report challenges the common perception that the BVI is being used for tax driven purposes, this is not the case. Our strong performance in this year’s report highlights that our industry is not in demise, but rather the contrary that it is very much in demand and we very much expect this trend to continue.”
Commenting specifically on the BVI’s compliance with international regulatory standards, she added: “The BVI is an early adopter of the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard, in addition to this, the OECD has rated the BVI as a “largely compliant” jurisdiction in relation to the criteria set out in the ‘Global Forum in Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes’. We are a well-respected, robustly regulated, cooperative jurisdiction with the highest offshore ranking in the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI). ”
The report highlighted that while about 40 percent were using BVI for asset protection, investment holdings for corporates and wealth management, 20 percent were using it for special purpose vehicles and listing vehicles for initial public offerings, and only 12 percent and 8 percent for individual and corporate tax planning respectively.
She concluded: “BVI structures have been used successfully in the Asia region for the last 30 years and we are committed to providing an innovative, scalable set of solutions to meet our clients’ evolving needs. Looking ahead we remain fully confident that the BVI will continue to maintain its leading position as a top ranking jurisdiction of choice, this is because the BVI advantage is clear.”
About BVI House Asia:
Based in Hong Kong, BVI House Asia was established in September 2013 to support and expand the strong relationship that the BVI has had with the Asia Pacific region for over 25 years. With a focus on financial services, the BVI provides a wide range of services to Asian businesses, such as asset protection, property holding, financial management, trading, copyrighting, bespoke trust services and investments. With the launch of this official website, BVI House Asia is confident that it will serve Asian investors better through more robust platforms and bring BVI financial services to the next level.