Updates from the BVI Financial Services Commission

The BVI Financial Services Commission (the FSC) has published its February 2020 newsletter. A copy can be found here.

Some of the key highlights are:

1. The BVI, as a member of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) is scheduled for mutual evaluation during the second quarter of 2021. This evaluation will assess the BVI’s anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing regime (AML/CFT) against the international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force. Importantly, in addition to reviewing the BVI’s legislation, policies and procedures, the CFATF inspectors will conduct interviews with regulated entities, industry associations and with the competent authorities. With this in mind, entities that are subject to regulatory oversight, supervision and monitoring should continue to review their internal AML/CFT policies and procedures and identify any areas of weakness and where this can be improved.
2. The Registry of Corporate Affairs to expand premium services offerings: Effective 18 February 2020, the FSC will make additional transactions to the premium services offerings available. These will include: (a) change of company name(s) or adding / changing a foreign character name; (b) application(s) to register variation(s) in terms of registered charge(s) and (c) notices of satisfaction or release. The prescribed statutory transaction fee in addition to a processing fee of US$500 will be applied to all premium service transactions.
3. The BVI Business Companies (Amendment) Act 2019 and the BVI Business Companies (Amendment) Regulations 2019 streamline the requirements of the filing of the register of directors. Companies that are continuing into the BVI as BVI business companies are now required to file their register of directors within 21 days of their continuation and penalties for late filings will apply. The certificates of good standing that are issued by the Registry of Corporate Affairs now indicates whether a company has filed its register of director.