Mr. Thomas is the managing director of the business, which is associated with the international law firm Appleby. A lawyer by training, Mr. Thomas has worked in the financial services industry in the United Kingdom, Australia and Bermuda. He has been in the Virgin Islands since 2002.
Appleby is part of the Appleby Group. We have a good span of offices in all of the offshore locations as well as the mid-shore locations. And we have city offices as well in London and Hong Kong. So we’re quite well diversified geographically. We offer the full suite of legal services from our legal team. My role is managing director of the fiduciary side. Here in the BVI, we’re still growing. We’re at 20 people in this office at the moment, but we are expanding. Appleby, the name, started as a Bermuda name. That’s where the firm really started. But through a series of mergers with a Jersey firm, an Isle of Man firm, and a Cayman firm, we are now a much larger group.
What does the term “fiduciary” mean precisely in this case?
Fiduciary essentially means a combination of services. Those services generally include incorporating companies and then providing company administration to those companies, which will include providing a registered agent and registered offices. And also preparing resolutions when directors and shareholders need to do things. And maintaining certain records in the BVI, like registers, financial information. And the books and records of companies are kept here. Moving up the scale, fiduciary services also means perhaps acting as trustee to a trust, which is a different sort of arrangement. Also, acting as director to companies. And that could be for a variety of different reasons. The reasons why you’ll often find a company who wants a BVI-based director could be to try to make the “mind and management” here to try and make it tax efficient if it operates abroad. Or it could be a case for a fund where shareholders would like an independent director. And that means someone who is looking at the affairs of the fund who is independent from the investment manager.
What is your background?
I did a law degree in Liverpool [in the United Kingdom], and I trained as a chartered secretary in London. A chartered secretary is the chartered status for a corporate secretary. So I worked for four years in London, and I wanted to go to warmer climes, essentially.
As a chartered secretary, what did your work entail?
What we do, our bread and butter in the BVI, is company administration. Some trust companies do a more limited service and some do a broader service. We’re on the broader end. We have fewer clients, but we do more for them. Some trust companies have a lot of clients, but they do very limited service for them. If you were a chartered secretary for a listed company, that’s a very different role. You’d almost be like the in-house counsel to a company dealing with the listing obligations of a stock exchange, dealing with pension plans, with insurance, all kinds of things. The chartered secretary job offshore is more about providing company administration to clients. You are essentially, in an accounting term, in public practice.
What’s your typical day like?
Hectic. I think when you work for an international firm like I do, your day is very long. You have to meet expectations of international clients, so you get pulled into a variety of things. My role here is to make sure that the business runs smoothly, that it meets its regulatory requirements; to make sure that local relations are good with the government, with the FSC. I’m responsible for the operations on my side, but I’m also responsible for growing the business too, so I have to travel.
This interview was conducted, condensed and edited by Jason Smith.
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