Virgin Islands company incorporators formed nearly 1,700 fewer companies during the first quarter of 2015 than they did during the same period in 2014, a continuation of a declining trend.
In Q1 2015, nearly 12,354 companies were formed, a 13.8 percent drop from the same period in 2014 and a 41.5 percent drop from 2007, a record year when 21,111 companies were formed.
Incorporation rates tracked by the Financial Services Commission, which are seen as a bellwether for the health of the territory’s financial services industry, have been steadily falling since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Premier Dr. Orlando Smith, a team of finance policymakers and several leaders in the private sector are focusing on diversifying the sector’s dependence on incorporations, but the measures likely will take substantial time to bear fruit.
According to the Q1 2015 statistics, though, other attempts at diversification, namely investment fund registration and captive insurance formation, have yet to take off. There were 2,087 active investment funds registered in the territory as of March 31, a decline from 2,215 a year earlier. In 2007, 2,976 funds were registered.
Meanwhile, the rate of captive formation is stagnant. During Q1 2015, there were 143 captives active in the territory, a level unchanged from a year earlier.
However, the Q1 2015 statistics show that the number of investment managers registered in the territory, an area of business that was created in 2012 when new rules were written, is continuing to climb. Twenty-one new managers registered in the VI during the first three months of 2015, bringing the total number of managers here to 76, up from zero three years earlier.
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