BVI must do all it can to protect its ‘cash cow’ — Wheatley
Legislators must do all they can to help protect the territory’s financial services industry, Ninth District Representative Vincent Wheatley has stressed.
He made that argument while House of Assembly (HOA) members were debated the Non-Profit Organisations (NPO) Amendment Act, 2022 yesterday, September 20.
Wheatley pointed out that, even though the BVI may be a very small territory, it is an international player, particularly in the area of financial services.
However, Wheatley said the industry has a lot of regulations because of concerns over money laundering, tax evasion and other such things, and if it is to remain competitive, it has to ensure it also remains compliant.
But Wheatley called the issue of compliance a ‘two-edged sword’ in some regard.
“Whereas the country may become compliant, we have to be careful that the people don’t get crushed, the mom and pop store … don’t get crushed in the process,” Wheatley said.
Wheatley referred to a 2013 article that pointed to various international charities such as the British Red Cross being named as beneficiaries of trusts in the BVI, and said it shows the concerns people have that charities continue to be used for nefarious reasons, and for illegal purposes.
Money laundering, Wheatley argued, has become so sophisticated that even charities do not know when they are being used for those nefarious purposes.
“We have to always be on our guard to make sure we remain compliant, that we are not being used to make sure the BVI remains competitive in the offshore sector,” the former Labour Minister argued.
Wheatley also noted that compliance should not be made an onerous and expensive task for service organisations in the BVI, causing their effects on the community to become diminished.
“So we have to make sure that we do all that we can to protect this industry, to protect our cash cow that we call financial services while not overburdening those organisations like the Rotary and the Red Cross and the Lions who are trying to do good,” Wheatley said.
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BESIDES BEING A VULTURE ON THOSE EMPLOYEES MONEY 5HAT THEY WORKED HONESTLY / BUT WILLFULLY PROTECTED THE RICH AND FAMOUS EMPLOYERS ( TRY PRAYING ? ) HYPOCRITE
This man again in the airwaves. He needs to go sit down. This waste of time was there clueless suddenly he possesses all the solutions.Bvi news is making some money out of him because of blogs. Absolut vodka is an absolute talk.Red eyes ,heavy tongue and rabbit ears. He milked the cow already. He doesn’t leave any milk for us. The cow is weak and needs vitamins. The cow suffers with anemia
Ahh so you mean the financial sector that the white Brits brought here and gave you so you could eat, live and steal? Then the lot of you want reparations. What do you think the financial sector is? Reparations!!! And with that you’ve managed to slowly destroy it just like everything else you touch.
Last Call! Go back to the bar before it close. Please and thanks.
crimes are rampant in the global financial services industry and the BVI is not immune to their illegal benefits.
Dear Sir, your former Head Coach messed up the “cash cow/Golden Goose” for sure as April 28, 2022!!!
Financial Services shifted to the BVI after the Noriega/Panama debacle. It was also a gentleman from the law firm Sherman and Sterling that was important part of the upstart. BVI’s reparations is the ownership of land.
You ever saw someone and every time you see their face, you just want to Park them a hard clout???
What a load of drivel. Indeed, one should protect one’s sources of income, but the BVIs has not exactly been placed in a positive light after the Panama papers and so on. Then there is the issue that some of the financial services offered here are means by which citizens of other nations reduce their tax liability. In other words, financial services is part of the subterfuge. Basically, BVIs runs drugs and helps others avoid taxes
If it didn’t benefit the investor local or foreign, they wouldn’t be investing, and there would be no cow. Use you logic…
The British? The most evil empire? Lol. Really now. Them sunzafemale dogs been receiving billions from territories they enslaved. Imagine that. They made money from slavery and got paid for funds they would lose because slavery was abolished. So don’t come with that piddke saying financial services is reparations. The white people still benefit.