03 July 2008BVI Submits Evidence to UK Treasury Select Committee
GISInquiry to Help Financial Stability and Transparency
The BVI is widely regarded as operating a robust regulatory and supervisory regime in financial services, and has a well-established system of international cooperation. This fact is recognised by international organisations, such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“This is the strong message which the Territory has taken to the Inquiry into Offshore Financial Centres by the United Kingdom Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee,” Executive Director of the International Finance Centre Mrs. Lorna Smith said about the Government’s recent submission to that Committee.
The Committee announced the Inquiry as part of its ongoing work into Financial Stability and Transparency. Many of the questions asked are general inquiries about how financial centres operate. One question, however, specifically centres on whether British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are well-regarded as Offshore Financial Centres, both in comparison to their peers and international standards.
The spotlight has been on the overseas territories and their financial services sector in recent months following a report by the National Audit Office entitled “Managing Risk in the Overseas Territories,” which recognised that the Virgin Islands, British, is now of major importance in the global financial system. ‘The Territory has demonstrated that it is up to the task of maintaining a high quality of regulation as it grows and develops,” explained Mrs. Smith.
The National Audit Office report noted that the Territory is better equipped through its Financial Investigation Agency, established in 2004, to investigate financial crime than some of its fellow UK Overseas Territories.
Mrs. Smith said the recently concluded IPOC International Growth Fund case is a primary example of the BVI’s level of international cooperation in the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crime.
“The Inquiry gives us the opportunity to demonstrate the quality of regulation and business in the BVI and our role in the world economy. We know that good governance of a jurisdiction combined with sound regulation enhances reputation and in turn brings high quality business into the financial services sector and we have made it clear to the Committee that this is the approach we have taken in the BVI. In preparation for our submission, we consulted widely with the private sector and we believe we have a made a strong case both for the BVI and the general role that offshore centres can play,” said the IFC Executive Director.
The International Finance Centre (IFC), which falls under the Ministry of Finance, is the department charged with marketing and promoting the Territory’s financial services sector.
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