Premier Dr. Orlando Smith made perhaps the strongest statements he’s uttered publicly on the issue of beneficial ownership last week, disclosing at Business BVI’s second annual Asia Summit that the government won’t establish a public company registry but will instead strengthen its current regulatory regime.
As recently as a Sept. 15 breakfast with the media, Dr. Smith had declined to give a firm answer as to whether the government would establish a publicly searchable registry of the beneficial owners of the companies registered here.
“It is still in discussion that is ongoing between cells in the British government and between all the overseas territories of the British government, and it’s not a static discussion,” he said at the time. “What they did say is that the information should be readily available, and there are various options to make that readily available. We are looking at the options and having those discussions.”
Now it seems that government has opted to stick to its current regulatory regime.
In his speech from last week, the premier cited a survey whose results were released in February, explaining that 80 percent of respondents said that the territory’s current system of maintaining corporate information is adequate.
He added that the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development recently characterised the VI as “largely compliant” with international standards.
Thus, instead of creating a new system, the government will continue to work to strengthen its existing regulations, he said.
See the Oct. 1, 2015 edition for full coverage.
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