Virgin Islands trust firms formed 1,199 fewer companies during the first three months of this year compared to the same quarter last year, a 6.7 percent drop, recently released statistics indicate.
According to the Financial Services Commission’s 2013 Q1 statistics, trust firms formed 16,666 companies, 15 limited partnerships, and 30 private trust companies during the quarter. During Q1 2012, 17,865 companies, 18 LPs and 17 PTCs were formed.
As of March 31, the FSC’s Registry of Corporate Affairs listed a total of 482,747 companies, 565 LPs and 1,061 PTCs as active.
The statistics for fund registration in Q1 2013, when 28 professional funds and 11 private funds were incorporated, show a slight increase over Q1 2012, when 22 professional, nine private and one public fund were registered. Overall, though, fund registrations are down. In 2009 there were nearly 3,000 funds registered in the VI. By 2012, that number had dropped to 2,300 funds.
The FSC issued 10 new licences for investment businesses during Q1 2013, compared to 16 during Q1 2012. The total number of investment businesses in the territory now stands at 530 since the Securities and Investment Business Act was passed in 2010.
Additionally, the FSC licensed the territory’s first five approved investment managers under the Investment Business [Approved Manager] Regulations, which took effect in November.
Those new rules were passed by the House of Assembly to make it easier for managers of smaller investment funds to domicile here in an effort to create a potential growth area for the VI and lure business away from the Cayman Islands.
The territory’s five commercial banks continue to enjoy significant profit margins of 49.9 percent, up from 35.8 percent the year prior, the Q1 statistics show.
Collectively, banks’ net income also rose considerably, from $8.3 million in Q1 2012 to $13.6 million for the most recent quarter. At the same time, banks are suffering fewer losses from customers who can’t repay their loans. During Q1 2012, 9.4 percent of the banks’ total loan portfolios were deemed “non-performing.” For the most recent quarter, that figure has declined to 3.86 percent.
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