BVI Trumpets New Trust Regime

Stephen Harris

8 October 2007

A delegation of government officials and industry practitioners from the British Virgin Islands was last week in the UK heralding changes to the jurisdiction’s regulations on private trust companies, which came into force this August. Under the new regulations technical arrangements for the licensing exemption for private trust companies has been clarified. Private trust companies give clients more control as they don’t have to hand over assets, and this is particularly useful when the asset is a trading company and when established investment guidelines are not appropriate. “Private trust companies are very useful for private clients who have specialised needs and who want to retain control of assets,” Kenneth Morgan, executive director of Rawlinson & Hunter in BVI told WealthBriefing. “The take up has been very good since the change in the regulations. We’ve spoken to lots of major private banks in the City and they’re very excited about the changes,” said Helene Anne Lewis, partner in BVI law firm Simonette Lewis. The island has a number of innovative structures for private clients, according to the delegation. Under the Virgin Islands Special Trusts Act 2003, trustees are legally absolved from responsibility towards trust assets. “There are perhaps as many as 1,000 of these VISTA trusts, many with substantial assets,” said Ms Lewis.