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BANK OF ASIA POWERED UP FOR ITS NEW CHAPTER OF GROWTH
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Over 70 professionals from BVI financial services industry including corporate service providers, lawyers, accountants, and insolvency practitioners attended a networking event hosted by Bank of Asia (BVI) Limited (“the Bank”) on Chinese New Year’s Eve, 11 February 2021, at Sevens at the Pier restaurant on Tortola.
The Bank's Vice Chairman, Mrs. Lorna Smith OBE, welcomed the banks guests on behalf of its Chairman, Mr. Carson Wen and the other members of the Board of Directors.
Chairman of BVI Finance and Regional Managing Director of Trident, Mr. Nick Bishop, in his brief remarks, expressed his pleasure and gratitude that the principals of Bank of Asia had taken the decision to open a bank in the BVI, especially at this time when ‘the winds blowing over the Overseas Territories present a challenge’. He considered the advent of the Bank of Asia to be a positive story and encouraged the industry to support the bank. He said that Trident Trust is itself channelling clients and investment business to Bank of Asia. He, therefore, encouraged colleagues to do similarly.
President of the Bank, Ms. Lisa Lou, then provided an overview of the bank’s offerings. She said the Bank is in a unique position to support the growth of the BVI financial services industry, serving as the bridge between the BVI and Asia. She shared the Bank’s objectives for the New Year, which include capturing opportunities in the growing offshore asset management, funds and digital assets sectors. Advisory services have been added to the Bank’s offerings, utilising its strong resources in the BVI and in Asia in finance, legal and professional services. Ms. Lou herself is from Beijing, having worked at the c-suite level at several banks in China, including the last being Senior Managing Director and China Country Manager of State Street.
Ms. Lou also announced Bank of Asia's launch of its new logo on 12 February, the first day of the Chinese New Year, to mark a new period of growth for the institution. The medium dark shade of blue emphasises the professionalism, reliability and dedication with which the Bank delivers its services and the gravitas of the upscale clientele that the Bank is building. Ms. Lou also announced that Bank of Asia has been granted a general banking license. With this new license, Bank of Asia will be able to offer services to the BVI business community and residents, in addition to its global clients. The Bank is looking to bring its financial products and banking services to the local market, such as term deposits at competitive interest rates, mobile payment and e-wallets.
Vice President, Mr. Deon Vanterpool, underscored the vital role of partnerships already established and growing with key industry players. "The bank has tapped into new products, services beyond the traditional core banking services to raise the profile of the British Virgin Islands in the global financial services market," said Vanterpool.
Chairman and Founder of the Bank of Asia, Mr. Carson Wen, commented that Bank of Asia has now firmly established itself as a go-to bank for offshore companies as well as those looking for new fintech-enabled services. "Customers from 33 jurisdictions have chosen to use the Bank of Asia for its services. 2021 will see the Bank of Asia grow substantially to deliver on its promise to change the way people bank," said Wen.
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THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION CENTRE ADDS 10 MEMBERS TO ITS PANEL OF ARBITRATORS
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The British Virgin Islands International Arbitration Centre (BVI IAC), an independent not-for-profit institution serving the demands for dispute resolution in the international business community, today announced the addition of 10 members to its arbitration panel.
The 10 new arbitrators represent nine countries, further expanding the skillset and diversity of the BVI International Arbitration Centre Panel. Now composed of more than 200 international arbitrators, the panel represents common law and civil law jurisdictions, and the arbitrators speak a broad range of languages, including Cantonese, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
Click here to read more.
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WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT BVI's REGULATORY CHANGE FOR INVESTMENT STRUCTURES
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It was unfortunate that such a fundamental change to the regulatory regime of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) was largely overshadowed due to the twin challenges of the economic substance regime implementation in 2019/2020 and the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020. Save for structures established for the purposes of making a single investment, most investment fund structures that fell outside the open-ended fund regime will now be subject to the new regulations and many investment holding structures that may not previously have been considered as 'funds' may warrant some regulatory analysis to ensure that remains the case.
The official registration deadline for any structure caught by the new regulations was 1 July 2020, but it is understood that the BVI's Financial Services Commission may still accept late submissions from affected structures without imposing a financial penalty; however, the window of opportunity to tidy up these structures is fast closing.
As such it is imperative that directors, GPs, Trustees, administrators, CSPs and managers of BVI investment structures undertake a thorough review of their vehicles to determine whether they are in scope and require to be recognised as a private investment fund under the 2020 rules.
Click here to read more.
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PRIVATE M&A INVOLVING BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS COMPANIES
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The British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) has long been a world-renowned international financial centre, with more than 380,000 active companies registered there. Sophisticated and professional investors are drawn to the BVI by its numerous benefits, including its combination of political and economic stability, progressive corporate law framework, robust but appropriate corporate governance and regulation, favourable taxation, and highly-skilled and comprehensive service providers.
Such benefits provide many advantages for corporate holding structures established in the BVI, which have resulted in BVI companies being active throughout the global economy and holding assets and undertaking business activities across numerous industries and sectors. Whilst the global market for mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) has, undoubtedly, been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, there are signs of a recovery, not least a global vaccination drive, and this, coupled with widespread reports of “dry powder” capital ready to be deployed, lends weight to expectations of an impending increase in global M&A activity.
Click here to read more.
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FAMILY BUSINESS SUCCESSION PLANNING IN ASIA - RETAINING CONTROL
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No matter what the surrounding contextual circumstances may be, a global pandemic, for instance, one consideration that remains pertinent to all those who find themselves at the helm of a family business is the matter of succession planning. And as the Coronavirus has only gone on to demonstrate, it does not hurt to be prepared for unforeseen scenarios or black swan events.
In regard to this salient consideration, Henno Boshoff elucidates on the numerous solutions available to the heads of Asia’s family businesses, breaking down their merits, and ultimately how each of these options facilitate the undisputedly important task of succession planning.
Click here to read more.
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COST IN LIQUIDATION PROCEEDINGS - DOES THE FAILURE TO SET ASIDE A STATUTORY DEMAND SUBVERT THE GENERAL RULE THAT COSTS FOLLOW EVENT?
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The British Virgin Islands (the BVI) insolvency regime provides for the issuance of statutory demands against BVI companies. Where a statutory demand is not set aside within 14 days, a creditor can apply to appoint a liquidator to the alleged debtor.
The debtor can resist liquidation proceedings and, where the debtor can show that the debt is disputed on genuine and substantial grounds, the court will dismiss the application.
The general rule in proceedings subject to the Eastern Caribbean Civil Procedure Rules is that costs follow the event. Accordingly, where an alleged debtor defeats an application for the appointment of a liquidator, it should recover its costs from the petitioning creditor, unless the court considers, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, that it ought to depart from that general rule.
Click here to read more.
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ICLG AVIATION LAW REVIEW 2021: BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
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In the British Virgin Islands chapter of the International Comparative Legal Guide to Aviation 2021, Michael Gagie, James Kinsley and Rebecca Lee give a comprehensive overview of aviation law and regulations in the British Virgin Islands.
Click here to read more.
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The International Tax Authority (the “ITA”) wishes to inform all Virgin Islands Financial Institutions (“VIFI’s”) and Constituent Entities that the British Virgin Islands Financial Account Reporting system (“BVIFARs”) is now accessible.
All VIFI’s and constituent entities are reminded of the filing deadlines. They are as follows:
For Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) and Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) filings; the deadline is 31 May 2021.
For Country-by-Country reporting (CbCr), the deadline is no later than 12 months after the last day of the reporting fiscal year of the MNE Group.
All FI’s and constituent entities are also reminded that any filings/reporting obligations, must be in accordance with the OECD version 2.0 XML Schema. Please note, the Portal will no longer accept version 1.0 XML Schema filings and thus, a failed schema message may be received.
For more information on the use guide for v2.0 XML Shema click here.
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COVID -19 VACCINE IN THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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The implementation of the COVID-19 Vaccine would lessen the health, economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. A vaccine for COVID-19 is a critical tool for helping to bring the pandemic under control when combined with effective testing and existing prevention measures.
This information has been compiled to answer the most important questions and concerns that residents and visitors may have regarding the COVID-19 vaccination programme in the British Virgin Islands.
To read the frequently asked questions click here.
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BVI FIRMS RECOGNISED IN CHAMBERS & PARTNERS GLOBAL RANKING
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2020 FINANCIAL SERVICES AWARDS
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This new year brings us the opportunity to celebrate our accomplishments of the past year. There is no better or easier way to do so than to vote for your top person or business in each award category for the 2020 Financial Services Awards.
Please save the date and join us for the Awards Gala on March 2021 (to be confirmed).
Click here to sponsor the event.
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