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It has been almost a year since the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive was due to be implemented by the member states of the European Union.

Shipping business in the BVI is fast developing, and it is important to understand some critical elements, being financing and taking of security.

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

Historically, with limited exceptions, trusts for purposes rather than beneficiaries were refused recognition by the courts. The principal obstacle to recognition was the trustees' duty to account and the fact that this requires beneficiaries to enforce the duty.

A summary of possible BVI legal issues for various planning options, following the UK government announcement relating to the removal of residential property from corporate structures.

As a consequence of one of the basic features of English trust law (ie that a trust is not a separate legal entity), a trust cannot as such enter into liabilities, with the result that the primary remedy of anyone dealing with a trustee is against such trustee.

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).

The Investment Business (Approved Managers) Regulations, 2012 provides an attractive "regulatory light" option for qualifying investment managers and advisors.

In 2005, Goldman Sachs named Iran as a member of the "Next Eleven", a country with the potential of becoming one of the world's largest economies in the 21st Century.

Many prospective settlors, especially those from jurisdictions or family backgrounds in which trusts do not feature, the establishment of a lifetime trust can involve a rather significant leap in the dark.

With a strong desire to attract start up hedge funds and their managers, the BVI Financial Services Commission has introduced new regulations to significantly ease the process to establish incubator funds and approved funds.

The BVI and Cayman Courts are usually the work horses of the Caribbean international financial centres. 2016 proved to be no different.

The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is the standard for automatic exchange of financial account information produced by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development...

Since its enactment in 2003, the Insolvency Act ("the Act") has made significant and positive changes to insolvency law in the BVI. Phillip Kite gives an update on the way some of the more important changes have been interpreted to date. For UK practitioners, there are also some thoughts on how the Act might enable a BVI company, with a BVI governed floating charge, to circumvent some of the provisions of the UK Enterprise Act.

Cypriot companies are frequently used in cross-border structures, whereby securities of a Cypriot company are listed on a regulated market of another Member State.

Following recent revisions of the British Virgin Islands' (BVI) companies and investment funds laws, the BVI has now turned its attention to its trust regime.

The New Fund Regulations are expected to come into force and be available for use imminently.

New rules for companies incorporated, and investment business managers licensed, in the British Virgin Islands took effect in late 2012.