06/06/25

BVI: BVI takes steps to fix beneficial ownership issues

As published on: bvinews.com, Friday 6 June, 2025.

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) is taking steps towards addressing long-standing concerns from the United Kingdom regarding the territory’s compliance with international beneficial ownership regulations.

The UK has been pressing its overseas territories, including the BVI, to implement publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership (PARBOs). These registers are designed to disclose the actual owners behind companies, a measure anti-corruption advocates argue is crucial in tackling money laundering, tax evasion, and financial crime.

However, BVI leaders have pushed back, contending that such transparency could discourage current and potential clients from doing business in the territory. The BVI has also maintained that it supports publicly accessible registers, but only if they are adopted as a global standard.

As recently as May 2025, UK Members of Parliament (MPs) sharply criticised the BVI for missing a key deadline to establish a framework for beneficial ownership transparency. One MP described the territory’s efforts to date as “shameful.”

In response, the BVI Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced last week that it will host a series of forums—alongside the government—to engage with stakeholders on access to beneficial ownership information and the framework’s implementation.

The sessions, scheduled for June and July 2025, will include in-person meetings with service providers and stakeholders across the BVI, the Asia Pacific region, the United Kingdom, and Latin America.

The FSC said the upcoming forums aim to provide insight into the legal, technical, and operational elements of the new framework, ensuring efficient and effective implementation of a beneficial ownership regime.

FSC Managing Director and CEO Kenneth Baker stated, “As with our last round of Meet The Regulator (MTRs), which provided valuable insight into the implementation of the beneficial ownership regime, this series marks another critical engagement with our financial services stakeholders – this time focusing on access to beneficial ownership information.”

He added: “Our partners in government, the Ministry of Financial Services, Economic Development and Digital Transformation, will present the outcomes of the recent consultation on rights of access to beneficial ownership information along with the resulting policy and framework.”

Previously, the BVI drafted a policy that limited access to company ownership data to parties with a “legitimate interest”—including law enforcement, businesses, journalists, and civil society groups. Under that proposal, individuals seeking information would need to be involved in regulatory or legal proceedings tied to financial crime, and company owners would be notified of such requests and given five days to object.

UK MPs rejected that framework, insisting on broader and easier access to ownership information.

It remains unclear whether the revised framework under discussion in the upcoming forums will meet the UK’s expectations or satisfy international transparency standards.

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BVI Beneficial ownership