Financial services employees around the territory have been cramming in late nights to put the finishing touches on their servers to meet the Beneficial Ownership Secure Search System’s deadline tomorrow, according to stakeholders in the industry.

When the new BOSS System goes live, Virgin Islands registered agents take their next step toward satisfying the United Kingdom’s demands for increased financial services transparency in the overseas territories.

“We will use it to maintain the high reputation of the jurisdiction,” said Neil Smith, government’s BOSSS coordinator and the executive director of the Office of International Business (Regulations).

Spurred by an exchange-of-notes agreement signed by the VI and the UK in April 2016, the BOSSS theoretically equips government investigators with the ability to provide beneficial ownership information to UK law enforcement within 24 hours of a standard request and within one hour of a request deemed “urgent.”

The June 30 deadline — mandated in the UK agreement — was made official when VI lawmakers unanimously passed the Secure Search (Beneficial Ownership) System Act, 2017 on May 12.

The law requires each financial services company to establish a server that can be searched from a central computer by a “designated person” in the Financial Investigation Agency.

On these servers, registered agents are supposed to log the names, birthdates, addresses and nationalities of beneficial owners for each company they incorporate, and the act slaps a fee of up to $40,000 for any that fail to do so.

“Through its electronic search engine, BOSSS will ensure there is even greater rigour in our systems and processes relating to beneficial ownership information,” Premier Dr. Orlando Smith announced in a press release.

Implementation

This week, those charged with helping create the new system were confident that registered agents would be ready to play ball tomorrow.

“I bet the vast majority of them will be on the system,” said Mr. Smith, who recently served as financial secretary.

Ryan Geluk, deputy managing director of BDO Ltd — the company government paid at least $745,000 to establish BOSSS — was even more confident. He predicted that all 132 registered agents would be live and up-to-date on the system by the end of the workweek.

“Our expectation is that all of them will be compliant,” Mr. Geluk said Tuesday.

A subsequent amendment to the original act — passed hurriedly by lawmakers on June 13 — relieved registered agents from the responsibility of tracking down beneficial ownership information for corporate entities struck off the Register of Companies before January 2016.

Since that amendment narrowed BOSSS’s scope, Mr. Smith explained, the act did not actually force registered agents to attain any new information that previous anti-money laundering laws did not already require.

Still, stakeholders in the industry acknowledged that the technological aspect of the implementation was difficult, especially for smaller registered agents.

“We’re all just working away,” Claire Abrehart, managing director of the AMS Financial Group, said on Tuesday. “Some companies have been working late nights and weekends to meet the deadline — and that includes us.”

Ms. Abrehart, however, noted that she had not heard of any registered agent that was going to miss the BOSSS deadline. Her own company went live with its server that day.

For its part, BDO worked closely with financial services providers to assist with the technological aspects of the transition, Mr. Geluk said.

Going forward

Both Messrs. Geluk and Smith are confident in the system’s protections.

“Information will be held to the highest standards of security,” Mr. Smith said.

Two FIA officers, who haven’t been publicly identified, assumed the roles of “designated persons,” and they will be the only ones with access to search the system on the designated computer, the former financial secretary explained.

FIA Director Errol George could not be reached for comment.

Additionally, Mr. Smith noted that only UK law enforcement will be able request information. Other jurisdictions will not have that ability, he explained.

Mr. Geluk described the BOSSS’s security as “state of the art.”

Robert Briant, a member of BVI Finance Ltd. and the managing partner of the VI branch of Conyers Dill & Pearman, spoke similarly.

“Frankly, I think it’s a good system,” Mr. Briant said. “It’s a good approach.”

Mr. Geluk pointed to the system as evidence of the VI government’s commitment to being a well-regulated jurisdiction.

“This continues to show government’s dedication to improving tax transparency,” he said.

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