About The Bvi

The British Virgin Islands are a series of about 60 islands, cays and rocks about 90 miles east of Puerto Rico in the Eastern Caribbean. The largest island is Tortola and its capital is Road Town. For over 200 years, the BVI has been a possession of the UK and it is still a British Overseas Territory. The language is English although the currency is the US dollar.

Financial services and tourism are the twin pillars of the BVI economy. The BVI ranks first as the domicile of choice for International Business Companies, second as the domicile of choice for hedge funds and fourth for captive insurance companies.

This success reflects the fact that the legal, political and regulatory institutions are modelled on worldwide norms and globally recognized best-practices. In particular, the regulation of financial services by the Financial Services Commission ("FSC") is recognized as a model for responsible oversight.

According to figures released by the FSC, at the end of 2006, there were over 2,400 active hedge funds and over 430 active licensed fund managers.

The legal system is based on English law and all of the major offshore legal firms have offices on Tortola, together with some strong independent firms. Three of the four 'big 4' accounting and audit firms operate in the BVI along with several mid-tier firms. Combine this with a modern telecommunications infra-structure and the BVI is clearly a modern jurisdiction geared for international business.