The recently enacted Securities and Investment Business Act, 2010 ("SIBA") of the British Virgin Islands ("BVI") will come into effect on 17 May 2010.

In the complex world of offshore asset management, ensuring the security of one's interests becomes even more critical when the owner is incapacitated.

On 1 January 2005, a new company law regime came into effect in the British Virgin Islands. The new Act, entitled the BVI Business Company Act, has been modelled on the territory’s well-known International Business Companies Act, as amended, and includes several new features to expand its appeal to international investors and business professionals, while also providing a suitable framework for domestic BVI companies.

One of the great attractions of the British Virgin Islands ("BVI") as a jurisdiction for structuring finance transactions is the simple yet thorough security registration regime applicable to BVI companies.

The Securities and Investment Business Act 2010 (SIBA) of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), which took effect in May 2010, requires persons engaged in ‘investment business' (as defined below) in or from within the BVI to be licensed thereunder.

The long-awaited Securities and Investment Business Bill, 2010 (commonly referred to as "SIBA") received its first reading by the BVI House of Assembly on 18 March 2010. This follows public consultation in Summer 2009.

Since trusts governed by the laws of the BVI usually have significant legal links with the laws of one or more other jurisdictions, it is essential for the BVI to have adequate rules for resolving "choice of law" questions relating to trusts.

After much anticipation, the BVI has enacted the Securities and Investment Business Act, 2010.

Following the completion of an industry consultation, the Securities and Investment Business Act, 2010 ("SIBA") came into force in the British Virgin Islands ("BVI") on 17 May 2010.

The issue of confidentiality in offshore financial centres is high on the agenda in the financial press.

Traditionally, the view has been that the right to set off one debt against another does not constitute a security interest but it may be that this position is no longer as clear cut in light of the recent Canadian Supreme Court ruling in Caisse populaire Desjardins de l’Est de Drummond v. Canada, 2009 SCC 29 ("Caisse populaire")

BVI is home to more than 500,000 International Business Companies (IBCs). An IBC is a corporate vehicle having limited liability, which, provided it has no business activities in the British Virgin Islands, is wholly exempt from BVI tax on its income and from inheritance or estate tax on its shares. Only a nominal annual fee is payable to the Government (in most cases US$300).

Strict duties imposed on directors must be discharged, even if they are nominee directors. The Central Bank of Ecuador v Conticorp [2016] 1 BCLC 26 decision illustrates the dire implications for a director who merely follows instructions and by so doing fails to discharge his duties to the company.

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) is charged with regulatory issues whilst the BVI International Finance Centre handles promotional initiatives, and media relations.

The Securities and Investment Business Act, 2010 (SIBA) was brought into force in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) on May 17, 2010 (other than Part II dealing with the public issue of securities).

Cyprus has been in the spotlight recently due to the negotiations with what has become known as the troika (the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission) regarding terms of financial aid.

The British Virgin Islands has emerged as a premier offshore jurisdiction for Latin American high-net-worth families seeking sophisticated wealth preservation and succession planning solutions.

The Republic of Cyprus issued its latest decree pertaining to the relaxation of restrictive measures on 20 September.

Two recent US cases in New York have provided some useful insights into the treatment by the US Courts in New York of applications made under Chapter 15 of the US Bankruptcy Code for non-US insolvency proceedings to be treated by the US Courts as the main proceedings for the liquidation of non-US entities.

A little more than 20 years ago, a group of lawyers and other professionals from the British Virgin Islands first met with the then Attorney General to discuss the drafting of a completely new piece of companies legislation. The result, after much hard work, was the enactment in 1984 of the International Business Companies Act.