Friday November 4th 2011 from 8.30 am and 10.30 am at the Moorings Briefing / Conference Room.
Cost is $30 per participant to cover room hire and refreshments.
Simone Martin from the FSC will again be one of our guest speakers, and will be joined by Jennifer Potter-Questelles who will enlighten us as to enhancements to VIRRGIN and other registry matters.
We do welcome any questions for our speakers to be sent to me prior to the event in order that they can be prepared.
We are limited to a maximum of 40 persons, so please register your interest as soon as possible by sending a cheque made out to the BVI Association of Registered Agents to Craig Williams, Rawlinson & Hunter, Romasco Place, Road Town.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Dear all, The Council for the next 12 months is as follows:
Renard Estridge – Maitland
Elizabeth J. Killeen – TMF (B.V.I.) Ltd.
Sjoerd Koster - VP Bank / ATU Trustees
Rickie Davis – Morgan & Morgan
Carolina Lacerda – Shirley Trust
Calum McKenzie– Folio Corporate Services Limited
Dolores Oderigo – Citco B.V.I. Limited
I would like to thank our two outgoing council members, Craig Williams and Nelcia St. Jean for their hard work on the Council over the last year.
Tortola, British Virgin Islans - 24 June, 2010 - The BVI Financial Services Comission (FSC) is pleased to invite persons to persue its recently published Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)...
Tortola British Virgin Islands - 22 June 2010 - Administrator and other functionaries of BVI Mutual Funds are reminded that...
Tortola, British Virgin Islands - 10 June, 2010 - The BVI Financial Services Comission (FSC) is seeking industry inpunt on the proposed Public Funds Code....
Tortola, British Virgin Islands 9 June 2010, The British Virgin Islands Financial Services Comission (the "FSC") wishes to inform the public that WI NET CORPORATION, also operating as WATER INVESTMENT, is not licensed to carry on financial services business in or from within the Territory....
New Securities and Investments Act (SIBA), Mutual Funds Regulations and Financial Services (Securities and Investment Business Fees) Regulations officially enacted and gazetted...
The ARA Council is pleased to announce that we will be holding two educational seminars on the 9th and 10th June covering Time and Task Management Skills and Advanced Supervisory Skills. These will again be conducted by SkillPath whom we have used to great acclaim for the last 2 years.
The Seminars will be from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm (covering six hours of content: one hour for lunch), as follows:
Wednesday June 9th - Junior / Entry-level staff - "Time and Task Management Skills"
Thursday June 10th - Senior staff - "Advanced Supervisory Skills"
Course overviews are attached.
The cost of each seminar is $275 per person and prior reservation is required. Please make reservations as soon as possible, along with a cheque payable to the "Association of Registered Agents", to Anelena Saavedra at Overseas Management Company Trust (B.V.I.) Ltd., R.G. Hodge Plaza 2nd Floor.
Places are limited and will be on a first come, first serve basis. We are limiting registration to ARA members until 21st May, after which time we will open it up to other associations - so be in quick!
16, April 2010. Press Release. The British Virgin Islands makes significant changes to regulatory regime for investment business
Tortola, British Virgin Islands - 31 March, 2010- On 18 February, 2010, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued a public statement on deficiencies in the AML/CFT regimes of a number of countries....
The council of the ARA are pleased to announce a workshop, which will take place next Thursday, 25 March 2010 from 3.00pm to 5.30pm.
Messrs. Aki Corsoni-Husain (Harneys) and Simon Schilder (Ogier) will comprise our panel. Their topic will be "The Regulatory Code, 2009 as relevant to Registered Agents and their clients" - we anticipate that this topic will be of considerable interest to our members at this time. There will be no admission charge.
The format will be a one hour presentation by our speakers, followed by an interactive question and answer discussion. As with the last MTR, we would like people to submit their questions prior to the event in order that as much consideration as possible can be given to the answer. Please forward all your questions to Sjoerd Koster for submission to the panel.
The venue is yet to be confirmed and will depend largely on the number of persons wishing to attend. For this reason would you please indicate by the end of tomorrow (Friday 19th) how many people from your firm will be attending this event.
Please register with Sjoerd Koster at
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The council of the ARA are pleased to announce a workshop, which will take place next Thursday, 25 March 2010 from 3.00pm to 5.30pm.
Messrs. Aki Corsoni-Husain (Harneys) and Simon Schilder (Ogier) will comprise our panel. Their topic will be "The Regulatory Code, 2009 as relevant to Registered Agents and their clients" - we anticipate that this topic will be of considerable interest to our members at this time. There will be no admission charge.
The format will be a one hour presentation by our speakers, followed by an interactive question and answer discussion. As with the last MTR, we would like people to submit their questions prior to the event in order that as much consideration as possible can be given to the answer. Please forward all your questions to Sjoerd Koster for submission to the panel.
The venue is yet to be confirmed and will depend largely on the number of persons wishing to attend. For this reason would you please indicate by the end of tomorrow (Friday 19th) how many people from your firm will be attending this event.
Please register with Sjoerd Koster at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
The Financial Services Institute at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College is delighted to announce that from 1st March 2010 it will be offering Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) courses to supplement study for the Certificate in Offshore Finance and Administration (COFA).
The Government of the Virgin Islands continues to be proactive in its efforts to maintain transparency in the financial services industry and comply with international standards.
To this end, Premier and Minister of Finance Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal, OBE today signed the Territory’s 17th Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA).
The agreement with the People’s Republic of China was signed at BVI House in London. Signing on behalf of People’s Republic of China was Deputy Commissioner of the State Administration of Taxation, Mr. Qian Guanlin.
Premier and Minister of Finance Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal, OBE signed the agreement in London today with Ireland’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, His Excellency, Mr. Bobby Mc Donagh. It is the 16th such agreement the BVI has signed.
The TIEA is based on a model agreement developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It allows the signing parties to request information from each other that is relevant to a tax investigation. As provided in the agreement, such information would typically relate to bank accounts or the beneficial ownership of companies or trusts.
The FSC wishes to inform the public that Sky Way Monetary Limited and Gulf International Investment Group Limited (GIIG 1982) are not licensed to carry on financial services business in or from within the Territory. Â Members of the public are therefore advised to exercise extreme caution in conducting any transactions with Sky Way Monetary Limited and Gulf International Investment Group Limited (GIIG 1982).
Premier Hon. Ralph T. O’Neal, OBE will open the 2009 Caribbean Conference for the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners in Puerto Rico on Monday, 4 May.
The BVI is playing host to the 11th annual STEP Caribbean Conference, which has become the leading international forum for discussion, networking and learning for the offshore financial services industry.
Commenting on the STEP Caribbean Conference, the Premier said “The BVI is delighted to be hosting this year’s STEP Caribbean Conference and we will be making Puerto Rico a real home away from home. Hosting this conference underlines our commitment to maintaining the BVI’s position as the premier destination for international business services, tourism and leisure.â€
He added that “the BVI is now widely recognized throughout the world as a leading offshore centre for international trust business and is home to an increasing number of highly qualified trust and estate practitioners. I am pleased that so many of these practitioners will be attending this year’s conference, particularly those senior officers of BVI STEP who have been instrumental in organizing this event. â€
The British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (FSC) today published Guidelines for its Approved Persons Regime. The Regime covers the review and approval of appointments for Senior Officers, Actuaries, Auditors and other Officers as prescribed by financial services legislation. All stakeholders and other interested persons are asked to note that the Guidelines will come into force on 2 March, 2009.
The Guidelines are available for download from the FSC’s website and the FSC anticipates the industry’s full cooperation.
Draft #8 of the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Manual has been published and can be downloaded for review.
Today, the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (FSC) published its response to the UK House of Commons Treasury Committee (TC) inquiry into offshore financial centres. The response, which can be found in its entirety on the FSC’s website (www.bvifsc.vg), focuses on the TC’s Press Release of 30 April, 2008 in which the TC invited interested parties to provide written evidence about offshore financial centres with respect to questions raised by the TC about the industry.