BVI vows to fight fraud, financial crimes

Minister for Financial Services, Labour, and Trade, Lorna Smith, recently highlighted that the jurisdiction is strongly committed to fighting fraud and other financial crimes that affect offshore hubs around the world.

The Minister made the declaration while delivering the keynote address at the special 20th anniversary meeting and conference of ICC FraudNet. ICC FraudNet is an international network of independent lawyers who help victims of fraud recover assets.

Their clients include corporations, individuals, governments, regulators and state entities. The conference, which was held at Scrub Island Resort, brought together over 100 attendees from 71 countries, including many of the top asset recovery lawyers and representatives from strategic partner organisations such as GreyList Trace, Mintz, BDO, and Grant Thornton.

In her address, Smith reinforced the BVI’s promise to fight financial crime in all its forms, at a time when such threats are growing, with geopolitical instability further exacerbating those risks.

“I am immensely proud that ICC FraudNet chose the Virgin Islands for its 20th anniversary conference. There is no doubt that we face challenges from those with criminal intent who seek to misuse our services. The decision by ICC FraudNet to come to the Virgin Islands reflects our shared responsibility to ensure that financial crime is investigated and prosecuted and that assets lost or stolen are identified and recovered through the courts,” Minister Smith said.

She also reiterated the BVI’s commitment to its robust regulatory regime and its adherence to the rule of law. She commended the role that industry members and the private sector play in upholding these high standards.

“The challenges that financial services centres face have increased with the recent transformative change we have seen in the sector, including in the digital assets area. The Virgin Islands has developed a reputation for agility and innovation, and we are well placed to take advantage of this potential new business,” Minister Smith stated.

She added: “But above all, we acknowledge that high standards of financial integrity and transparency are essential if we are to continue to attract the calibre of business we want, retain our international reputation and drive continued success. This includes leveraging digital tools to enhance our capabilities in detecting and preventing illicit financial activity.”

Minister Smith’s remarks come amid a damning report that the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) recently released regarding the BVI’s financial services industry. The report contained over 30 recommendations and a number of actions that the BVI was told to take in order to improve its anti-money laundering and terrorist financing mechanisms. Although the report was recently released, the data was captured around the time of Andrew Fahie’s arrest in the United States.

Some stakeholders like Opposition leader Ronnie Skelton believe this is a sign that Fahie’s drug trafficking charges have hurt the BVI’s international reputation. Immediately after the CFATF report was released, Minister Smith announced that the BVI has a National Action Plan and has deployed resources to implement the recommendations the FATF report highlighted.