Eastern Promises: Dr Mathavious - A Key Progenitor Of Sino-Bvi Relations

This article was first published in BVI Business in February 2022.

On 17 and 18 November of this year, the British Virgin Islands financial services community gathered to give tribute to Dr Robert Mathavious OBE, the man responsible for building the BVI into an international finance centre that now contributes more than 60% of the Territory's GDP and supports the livelihoods of so many residents of, and visiting professionals to, the BVI.

We counted among our esteemed guest speakers at the Global Currents Conference Mr Eli Han, leading capital markets and structured finance partner from the New York office of China's largest law firm, King & Wood Mallesons. Mr Han addressed delegates on the topic of the variable interest entity (VIE) structure, a topic that brings together the US and China, through the use of the BVI as a preferred jurisdiction for establishing affiliate entities to take advantage of this structure - the "BVI Advantage" as the financial services