The British Virgin Islands has experienced a 20% increase YoY in the number of new companies that have incorporated with the territory’s international business and finance centre.
The BVI Financial Services Commission’s (FSC) 2Q2018 quarterly statistical bulletin showed that, though company incorporations experienced a slight decrease QoQ (9,126 vs 9,798) they were up by 20% on 2Q2017 (9,126 vs 7,621). 2Q2018 also outperformed 2Q2016 with a 35% increase.
“Despite facing significant challenges, the BVI continues to experience extremely robust annual growth in the number of new company incorporations for yet another quarter. It is also positive to see the uptick in the number of Limited Partnerships (LPs) – there was an increase of 73% when compared to Q2 of last year, and a 23% increase from the recent 1Q figures.
“We have always been committed to ensuring that we adapt and create flexible products, and the limited partnership legislation is one we are extremely proud of. We created new provisions for limited partnerships in the BVI that will be highly attractive to funds and the quarter-on-quarter increases show that we got it right. We continue to rebuild stronger and ensure the BVI is a crucial global financial centre,” Lorna Smith, interim executive director of BVI Finance said in a statement.
The figures follow strong Q1 2018 results, where incorporations increased by more than 14% quarter-on-quarter (9,798 vs 8,538) and were up more than 12% on Q1 2017 (9,798 vs 8,695). These also represented the highest number of new incorporations in the BVI in a first quarter in three years.
“The last three consecutive quarterly reports in the BVI show statistically peak levels of security registration, which is consistent with a hyperactive period in relation to the use of BVI companies in debt financing structures,” Colin Riegels, managing partner of Harneys, said.
