BVI, Hong Kong ink financial services agreement
Deputy Premier and Trade Minister Lorna Smith.
The government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Hong Kong to strengthen financial services cooperation, expand market access for local businesses and create new opportunities for investment and entrepreneurship.
The agreement, announced on Monday, November 2, was signed during Hong Kong FinTech Week x StartmeupHK 2026, which runs from November 2 to 6 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and other venues across the city.
The MOU pairs the BVI’s Ministry of Financial Services, Economic Development and Digital Transformation with Hong Kong’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau. The government said the agreement is part of its strategy to diversify international partnerships and boost the competitiveness and resilience of the territory’s financial services industry. Under the arrangement, eligible BVI technology businesses, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and financial institutions will receive support to establish or expand operations in Hong Kong.
This includes access to incubation and entrepreneurship programmes offering funding, workspace and mentoring. The agreement also provides for closer cooperation in green and sustainable finance, including opportunities to explore environmental, social and governance-related investment products such as bonds, funds and insurance-linked securities. Both jurisdictions will also exchange expertise in financial technology, particularly digital assets and tokens, while promoting the continued use of BVI corporate vehicles and investment structures.
Junior Minister for Financial Services Lorna Smith, who represented the BVI government, welcomed the agreement and highlighted its potential benefits for local businesses.
“As the Premier noted in the budget speech last week, the financial services industry is central to the BVI economy. Its continued competitiveness and resilience are vital for our ability to secure a sustainable future for the Virgin Islands,” Smith stated.
She said the agreement could strengthen the industry’s competitiveness while supporting growth and innovation within the domestic financial services sector.
Hong Kong’s Under Secretary for Financial Services, Joseph H L Chan, described the BVI as one of Hong Kong’s oldest commercial partners.
“The present agreement reconfirms that well-established relationship by creating a platform for deeper engagement through which we can further strengthen our respective financial services sectors,” Chan stated.
He said Hong Kong looked forward to welcoming eligible BVI businesses and had developed support measures to facilitate faster market access and provide technical assistance across several economic areas.
The signing follows earlier efforts to strengthen financial ties between the two jurisdictions. During a 2024 trade mission to Hong Kong, Smith met senior financial officials, including representatives of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, to discuss cooperation in digital assets, green finance and insurance.
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She stays traveling fast class.
All it is the British wants to help Hong Kong move money before china forcefully takes over their country that the British took by war.
Where’s our 5 million?
I must say that as an At – Large Representative, Lorna Smith only cares about position, power and party politics. She does not stand on integrity and it is quite evident at this stage.
Lorna Smith placed us in this mess by crossing to the VIP Administration as the then Deputy Premier, practically providing the current Administration with a gift to form the Government. She was later fired because Natalio got upset/scared that she would have voted against him in the no confidence motion. Effectively discarded by the very people that are now praising her for financial services but mind you the industry will and has run without her for years.
Also when she was offered the role as Junior Minister at first it did not please her as she later confirmed: “I did say when I was offered the position of junior minister by the Premier that it was not acceptable to me.” Ironically, she is now the Junior Minister after all the protest to the title.
Then she went back and lied to the very same electorate that voted for her and stated that those rumours about her rejoining were false when it was already in motion.
She is hungry for power and always has to be in the room. She cares more about the industry as opposed to representing the electorate.
Crossing the floor once was already a noteworthy concern. Crossing it twice is unrecoverable. No amount of spin or political consultation that she has hired can erase that record.
Whose face is this lady playing with at the end of the day? It shall be yours but certainly not mines come election day.