The United Kingdom has written to the Virgin Islands asking the territory once again to consider establishing a publicly searchable registry of corporate beneficial ownership — or create a “similarly effective system.”
The move comes days after the country’s parliament passed a law to establish a public register in the UK, a measure that VI practitioners say would significantly damage the territory’s financial services sector if implemented here.
The letter to Premier Dr. Orlando Smith, which was reportedly signed by representatives from the UK Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, asked the VI to reconsider its objections to creating a public register listing the ultimate owners of the more than 460,000 companies registered here.
On Wednesday, Premier’s Office Permanent Secretary Brodrick Penn criticised recent international media reports that suggested that the UK is forcing the VI and the Cayman Islands to create public registries.
Instead, Mr. Penn said, the letter asks the territory to provide a timeline to either form the registry or create a similarly effective system, which government intends to do.
“Obviously, the UK believes that the best way to do it is through central registries, but I think that there’s a number of jurisdictions, including the BVI, that think that alternative mechanisms that are effectively similar could be put in place to ensure that we meet that objective,” he said.
Mr. Penn and representatives of Her Majesty’s Treasury declined to provide this newspaper with a copy of the letter, calling it a private communication.
See the April 2, 2015 edition for full coverage.