In March 2020, at the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, in order to ensure the effective and continued operation of financial services in the BVI, the Financial Services (Exceptional Circumstances) Act 2020 (theAct) was passed. The Act covers how the continued operation of financial services business will be maintained in exceptional circumstances. In accordance with the Act, the Financial Services (Exceptional Circumstances) Order, 2020 (theOrder) declared the COVID-19 pandemic, exceptional circumstances for which different or special measures are required to ensure the continued operation of financial services business.

Unfortunately, the pandemic still exists globally and continues to affect the manner in which businesses operate. Consequently, the BVI has taken steps to extend the operation of the Order. The BVI Financial Services Commission under Section 18 (2) of Act has further extending the operation of the Order for a period of 6 months ending on 30 September 2021.

The extension has been published in the Official Gazette on 18 March 2021.

The extension of the Act can be found here.

Our previous extensive blog post on the Financial Services (Exceptional Circumstances) Act, 2020 can be found here.