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The British Virgin Islands has updated beneficial ownership rules for companies, taking effect from the start of January.

BVI companies must collect, keep and maintain “adequate, accurate and up to date” information on the company’s beneficial owners and, unless an exemption applies, file the beneficial ownership information with the Registrar, according to a note from Maples Group, a legal and financial services group. Filings must be made within 30 days of the date of incorporation or continuation of the company into BVI and updated within 30 days of the company becoming aware of a change to the information, the note said. 

The issue of how far beneficial ownership data should be made available to the public remains a thorny one, given the tension between legitimate financial privacy on the one hand, and compliance with laws to stop money laundering and other illicit transfers, on the other. 

Offshore financial jurisdictions are arguably more in demand than ever, as countries such as the UK clamp down on the tax status of certain HNW individuals, as in the case of ending the long-standing resident non-domicile system. 

A British Overseas Territory, the BVI has had to keep a close eye on how, since 2016, the UK became one of the first countries (then a member of the European Union) to set up a public registry system of beneficial owners, under the name of “Persons with Significant Control (PSC) Register.” A year later, the BVI implemented the non-public platform “BOSS” (Beneficial Ownership Safe Search System) to share beneficial ownership information with the UK and certain enforcement agencies.

Although private, BOSS allows the BVI government agencies to search the database for information on any specific entity. According to an article in January 2024 from IFC Review, the UK Parliament has since established that all British Overseas Territories must have public company registers established by the end of 2023. The BVI immediately challenged this move. As reported last year, a ruling in late 2022 by a top European court against public registers of beneficial ownership encouraged the BVI to row back from taking such a step.

Maples Group said the Caribbean jurisdiction has put into force the amendments it made to the British Virgin Islands Business Companies Act and the BVI Business Companies Regulations. 

The beneficial ownership regulations exempt certain entities from having to comply, such as companies whose shares are listed on a recognised exchange, and companies that are private, professional, public, private investment, incubator or approved fund regulated by the BVI’s Financial Services Commission. There is also an exemption for companies whose shares are held by a trustee licensed under the
BVI Banks and Trust Companies Act, if certain conditions are satisfied, such as the beneficial ownership information being held by a BVI regulated fund administrator, among others.

The push for transparency is a global one. At the start of 2024, the US unveiled the Corporate Transparency Act.