ROADTOWN Tortola BVI, November 2nd, 2012 -- The British Virgin Islands (BVI) continues to be the jurisdiction of choice for the Asian business community according to Executive Director of the BVI International Finance Centre (IFC), Elise Donovan, who says this was the clear message received by the BVI delegation during a two-week series of meetings held in Hong Kong and Shanghai in October.
Financial services practitioners from the BVI’s private and public sectors were in Hong Kong (HK) attending STEP Asia, the annual meeting of the region’s Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. They also attended the China Offshore Summit in Shanghai. The delegation held meetings with industry officials who do business for the BVI in Asia, all of whom welcomed recent developments which include changes to the legislative framework that make the jurisdiction even more attractive.
According to Ms. Donovan, the general sentiment was summed up by Chairman of the Portcullis TrustNet Group, David Chong, who said to her that “the BVI is the Gold Star in Asia – everyone has to have ‘a BVI,’” meaning a BVI business company, the most popular BVI structure used in Asia.
“That’s why we promoted the message: ‘The BVI Advantage: Much More than Business Companies’. We were saying, ‘yes, you know the BVI for business companies but we offer a lot more’,” says Ms. Donovan. The BVI delegation was pleased with the eagerness of the Asian business community to discuss BVI structures.
As the platinum sponsor of the China Offshore Summit, the BVI played a leading role in this annual event which brings together more than 350 of the Asia Pacific region’s international financial services’ leaders and practitioners.
One of the leading presenters, Martin Crawford, Chief Executive Officer of OIL Offshore Incorporations, focused on the most recent research project done in the industry which examined the leading jurisdictions. The findings of the paper, entitled Offshore 2020 - Opportunities and Challenges Facing the Offshore Industry, concluded that the BVI brand remains very strong. Offshore 2020 ranked the BVI at the top of jurisdictions doing business in the Asia region. More than 150 industry leaders contributed to the survey.
A special session of the Summit focused on the BVI and was moderated by chair of the BVI Financial Services Business Development Committee (FSBDC) and CEO of LGS & Associates, Mrs. Lorna Smith, OBE. The session included two presentations; an overview of the BVI’s regulations by Brodrick Penn, Director of Investment Business at the BVI Financial Services Commission, and an overview of the BVI’s insolvency law and practice by William Hare, Managing Partner at Forbes Hare (BVI).
The presentations were followed by two panel discussions. The first panel examined various methods of using BVI structures and vehicles when planning for the future and was moderated by Christoph Gutmann, Managing Director of ATU General Trust (BVI) and included Barry Goodman, Managing Director of Trident Trust (BVI), Michael Shue, the Executive Director of Vistra Trust Services (HK), and Vanessa King, a partner at O’Neal Webster.
The second panel, discussing BVI investment structures, was moderated by Christopher Bickley, a partner at Conyers Dill & Pearman (HK) and Barry Mitchell and Michael Gagie, both partners at Maples and Calder (HK/BVI). Presentations were also made at the main Summit on behalf of the BVI by Tan Li-Lee and Scott Reid of Appleby (HK) and by Richard Grasby of Maples (HK).
The BVI’s information booth was ably staffed by IFC’s Chief Operating Officer, C. Maritza Mercer and Chinese/English translator, Kathy Zhu. More than 250 people visited the booth to ask questions and obtain information about a range of issues. “They were primarily interested in learning about services related to funds/investment and trust products,” said Ms. Mercer.
Some of the private sector practitioners also spent time answering questions at the BVI booth. “The BVI booth was clearly the most visited booth at the Summit,” according to Ms. King. “It was visited by people who were very familiar with the BVI as a corporate domicile and who were eager to know about other BVI offerings and products. The theme ‘The BVI Advantage: More than Business Companies’ was quite fitting for the occasion.”
Other BVI practitioners also in attendance at the STEP Asia conference in Hong Kong included Hélène Lewis and Garvin Simonette of SimonetteLewis, Wayne Francis of Nerine Trust, and Cornel Baptiste of Hudson Trust.
“Overall, the Territory had a very dominant presence at the conference and at the Summit, which served to communicate the importance the BVI places on its relationship with the Asian business community,” said Ms. Smith, adding that “as the competition gets stronger, it is important that the BVI stays ahead of the game.” Her comments were echoed by Trident’s Barry Goodman who noted that “We strongly value that the BVI is Asia’s preferred jurisdiction and we are working very hard to ensure that it remains that way.”
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