British Virgin Islands' finance sector earns IMF seal of approval

Tuesday, January 6, 2004

ROAD TOWN, BVI: An IMF review of the British Virgin Islands' financial sector has given the jurisdiction's regulatory environment a clean bill of health, according to a report published last Tuesday. 

The report, based on a series of meetings between government and financial sector representatives and a team of nine IMF assessors in 2002, rated the jurisdiction's information sharing systems and overall level of cooperation with global anti-money laundering initiatives as "excellent in all areas." 

However, the organisation identified a number of areas where regulatory supervision could be tightened. These included more onsite reviews of banks and trust firms, more stringent regulations in the mutual fund and insurance sectors, and tighter controls on the state-owned development banks. 

Tuesday also saw lawmakers in the Caribbean jurisdiction approve a bill that will establish a new agency tasked with investigating cases of suspected money laundering, to be known as the Financial Investigation Agency. The independent body will take over the role of investigating financial crime from a three-member unit of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force. 

The new measures were approved alongside the 2004 budget proposals, which include $700,000 worth of tax cuts. Mindful of the rising cost of living, Finance Minister Ronnie Skelton wants to exempt the first $7,500 of annual income from taxation, with a view to increasing this ceiling to $15,000 in the near future. 

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