The British Virgin Islands (BVI) is the world's largest offshore jurisdiction by number of incorporated offshore companies.
Despite being a widely used jurisdiction for structuring and investment business purposes, its banking sector is tiny. There are only 7 banks operating in the jurisdiction. Given the aforementioned, most BVI companies choose to bank outside of the BVI.
The financial services regulator in the BVI is the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The FSC supervises banking and trust company business, securities and investment businesses, collective investment schemes, money service businesses, virtual asset services, and corporate service providers.
When it comes to banking, there isn't a significant presence of large multinational banking groups in BVI, apart from CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (FCIB), which is majority-owned by one of the largest Canadian banks - CIBC Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce).
Besides CIBC FCIB, there are branches of two Puerto Rican banks, focusing on facilitating trade within the Caribbean and Central America; the National Bank of the Virgin Islands which serves the domestic retail market; a subsidiary of the Liechtenstein-based VP Bank; as well as Bank of Asia, a recently launched bank, which received the first banking license from the FSC after more than two decades .
Offshore companies and nonresident individuals typically bank in VP Bank, CIBC FCIB and Bank of Asia.
VP Bank specializes in wealth management offering services such as self-managed and discretionary-managed securities accounts.
VP Bank typically onboards nonresident-owned BVI and foreign companies with excess reserves to be allocated to investments, as well as investment funds and personal investment vehicles, rather than companies requiring transactional banking services only. Personal accounts for private individuals investing in securities are also available. The minimum deposit to open a bank account in VP Bank is USD 500,000.
CIBC FCIB favours commercial activities within the region and internationally. The BVI branch tends to have stricter requirements compared to branches in other countries in the region, such as the Cayman Islands. The minimum initial deposit is not high (USD 25,000). They also provide private banking and wealth management services CIBC FCIB provides services to nonresident-owned companies incorporated in the BVI, and in other countries where the bank has a presence. Its private banking and wealth management division is less restrictive on this matter.
The most recent addition to the banking landscape in the BVI is Bank of Asia.
Bank of Asia is the banking arm of a Hong Kong-based investment firm that obtained its banking business license in 2017. The bank provides services to nonresident individuals as well as offshore companies conducting both commercial and investment activities, as well as nonresident individuals.
Bank of Asia aimed at serving the vast number of BVI companies connected to Asia.
One should consider the broad use of BVI companies in East Asia, being the BVI the one of major sources of foreign direct investment from China, although the same is due to round-tripping practices carried out by Chinese multinational groups.
We can assist with opening accounts in the aforementioned banks, both personal for nonresidents as well as corporate accounts for foreign-owned BVI companies for both transactional and wealth management purposes, without needing beneficial owners, shareholders, directors and signers to travel to the BVI.
We work with 3 different banks in British Virgin Islands, each bank has different eligibility requirements, types of accounts available and onboarding processes.
We invite you to carefully review each banks requirements and services to better understand if their banking services meet your needs.
The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British overseas territory located on the Francis Drake Channel, east of Puerto Rico, in waters of the Caribbean Sea. The islands are part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands, the other islands being part of the United States Virgin Islands and the Spanish Virgin Islands belonging to Puerto Rico.
The archipelago is made up of about forty islands, of which eleven are inhabited. The largest are Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada and Jost Van Dyke. Its population is 27 800 inhabitants, living 23 000 on the island of Tortola, where it is located Road Town, the capital.
The executive power of the British Virgin Islands is shared between the monarch of the United Kingdom who is represented by a governor. This governor is appointed directly by the King on the advice of the British Government. Defense and foreign affairs are under the responsibility of the United Kingdom.
The BVI is one of the most prosperous economies among the Caribbean states, with one of the highest GDP per capita worldwide. Political stable, with modern infrastructures and a pro-business environment. Its main sectors are offshore financial services and tourism. Due to its close relationship with the US Virgin Islands, the US Dollar is the official currency.
The British Virgin Islands is one of the world's largest offshore financial centers and a world's leading center for company incorporation. The sector accounts on over half of the jurisdiction’s GDP and incorporation fees account for more than half of Government revenue.
The other significant economic sector is tourism, which approximately contributes to nearly half of the national income and employs a great part of its population.
The islands are a popular destination for its numerous white sandy beaches, the Baths of the Virgin Gorda, scuba diving on coral reefs near Anegada, the well-known bars on the Jost Van Dyke, or chartered yachts for exploring the less accessible islands.
Our banking support service is not just a mere introduction to the bank. We assist you in filling out the business questionnaires appropriately and help you understand and provide business details, commercial information and purpose/use of the bank account that a given bank wants to know in order to approve your account application. Banks want certainty and clarity on how the account will be used. Everything must be watertight. We will work with you to make sure there is minimal 'back and forth' and a smooth account opening process.
Bank Account opening requirements are subject to change at the discretion of the bank. There might be additional fees charged by the bank itself. Bank account opening is not guaranteed and is subject to the bank policies and compliance department. There might be restrictions on UBO nationalities, business activities and/or jurisdictions. A refund is available if the account is not successfully opened subject to our terms of service (20% to partly cover service and payment processing and administrative costs apply).