06/10/2011

Representatives of the British Virgin Islands' (BVI) International Financial Centre (IFC) have said that their recent European tour has been an outstanding success at promoting the BVI as a premier financial services jurisdiction.

The tour, which was carried out with members of the Islands' private sector, visited Zurich and Luxembourg, where the delegates met with a range of international business groups.

Speaking at the Luxembourg Monetary and Finance Forum, the executive director of the IFC, Sherri Ortiz, said that BVI's position as a reputable, well-regulated jurisdiction was continually gaining more and more strength.

She highlighted the lauding that the territory had received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last year, in which it highlighted that the global financial crisis had not taken an adverse toll on the BVI's financial institutions.

Ms Ortiz said, "Key industry decision-makers in Zurich and Luxembourg including wealth and investment managers, bankers, among others learned about what the BVI has to offer in the field of trusts and wealth planning."

Raymond Davern, from the BVI -based financial firm, Conyers Dill & Pearman, said that it was an invaluable trip and one that highlighted the interest that international finance operatives have in the BVI.

"It was gratifying to detect real interest in the BVI as a trust and private client jurisdiction," he said. "Questions from the floor in Zurich evidenced considerable familiarity with the BVI trust product.

"The level of interest in the Luxembourg event suggests also that service providers in that jurisdiction are seriously looking at the BVI as a jurisdiction which can meet their clients' wealth management needs," he added.