At its first Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 19 January, 2017, members of BVI Finance Limited elected nine representatives from the BVI’s financial services industry to the company’s Board of Directors.
The AGM, which was held last Thursday in the BVI Finance Conference Room, began with an enthusiastic welcome from BVI Finance’s Interim Executive Director, Lorna Smith, OBE during which she expressed the significance of this first meeting, provided an update on the progress being made as BVI Finance transitions to wholly become BVI Finance Limited and explained the process for electing the Board of Directors.
Remarking on the significance of the inaugural AGM she said, “Today marks a new era in the history of the BVI's financial services industry and none of this could have been achieved without the diligent work of the Financial Services Implementation Unit and, of course, the private sector.”
She added, “As the BVI remains committed to offering an internationally renowned and respected financial services product, the creation of BVI Finance Limited and appointment of the new Board of Directors will absolutely help to ensure that we fulfill our desire to create a truly public/private partnership in an effort to better support the BVI’s financial services industry.
During her explanation of the election process, the Interim Executive Director said that after nominations were received from the floor, each company represented at the meeting would be required to vote for four Board members serving for three years, three Board members serving for two years and two Board members serving for one year.
The new BVI Finance Board of Directors, with the exception of the two Government representatives, are:
Robert Briant, Conyers Dill & Pearman
Vanessa King, O’Neal Webster
Ryan Geluk, BDO Limited
Kenneth Morgan, Pendragon Services Limited
Claire Abrehart, AMS Financial Services Limited
Peter Tarn, Harneys
Rachel McDonald, Mourant Ozannes
Jonathan Bailey, Nerine Trust Company (BVI) Limited
Helene Lewis, SimonetteLewis
The establishment of BVI Finance Limited is one of the key items on the action plan for the BVI Forward Initiative, Revamp the International Finance Centre (IFC). The IFC was rebranded in 2014 and as of 2 January, 2017, became a private company, BVI Finance Limited.
The next phase of the process will see the signing of a cooperation agreement between Government and BVI Finance Limited which will cement the terms of the arrangement and the roles and responsibilities of both in this public-private partnership. The signing will take place shortly after the new board meets and elects its chairman and other officers who will be joined by two Government representatives.