NEW INCORPORATIONS DECLINE 30% IN BVI, POST-PANAMA PAPERS DISCLOSURES

Considering that much of the government's budget in the British Virgin Islands is funded by incorporation, and related fees and charges, government there must be unhappy that new corporations are down thirty per cent this year, when compared to 2015. BVI this year declined the UK request for a public registry of beneficial owners, only agreeing to respond to government, or law enforcement inquiries, and not forthwith, which may have also contributed to its increasingly negative image abroad, as well as fears that some eventual push back, against BVI companies, could result in targeting them, on the part of the world's major law enforcement agencies, as well as regulators. Who wants a compant with a bull's eye on it ?

There also has been much made of the fact that BVI companies, with their opaque qualities, were the preferred corporate vehicles of the now disgraced law firm of Mossack and Fonseca. Finally, the BVI's harsh treatment of foreign reporters who boldly attempt to seek answers in person in Road Town, and get promptly deported, which is surely a violation of human or civil rights in the United Kingdom, which owns the British Virgin Islands.

Apparently though, BVI corporate service providers are still hawking their products, meaning a BVI corporation, owned by a Belize trust, is still seen as the way to go, if you need to hide your wealth. We will follow up on the BVI issues, and report back on the developing story.