ABOUT ST. LUCIA

Location

St. Lucia, "the Helen of the West Indies" lies roughly between 60° and 61° West longitude; 13° and 14° North Latitude. 1,300 miles South East of Florida, in the Caribbean.

Access

There are regular and daily flights to and from the United States, Canada and Europe.

Government

St. Lucia is an independent member of the British Commonwealth, with a political system based on the Westminster Model, but with a written constitution. St. Lucia has a history of being a stable and safe democracy.

Legal System

St. Lucia has a tradition of separation of powers between the judicial system and the political system. The judiciary is independent and the Privy Council is the final court of appeal.

Economy

The three main pillars of the local economy are: tourism, agriculture and industry, with special emphasis now being placed on the provision of services, especially international financial services.

Financial Infrastructure

Many international financial institutions are represented on the island; they along with several indigenous banks offer all the services associated with a modern financial centre.

Communication

A modern, full automatic digital telephone system is in place with Internet access, and other means of communication in this modern age. We offer an on-line IBC registry which uses the latest stare-of-the-art technology, allowing for incorporation and other functions to be carried out on-line from anywhere in the world.

Currency

St. Lucia's currency is the Eastern Caribbean Dollar (EC$) which has an exchange rate of EC$2.7 to the US Dollar.

Time Zone

St. Lucia lies in the Atlantic standard time zone - 12 hours behind Hong Kong.

The People

St. Lucia has a population of approximately 150,000 people; with a large pool of professionals and university graduates including lawyers, accountants, corporate managers and experts in the field of finance. Competent staff is plentiful and available at reasonable rates - much lower than some of our neighbours in the industry.

English is the official language and we boast to have the highest number of Nobel Laureates per capita. Sir Arthur Lewis in Economics and Derek Walcott for Literature.

 

ST. LUCIA'S STRATEGY

  • Diversify the economy
  • Provide quality jurisdiction
  • Adhere to acceptable international standards.

We hope to achieve this by:-

  1. Our anti-money laundering legislation which meets the standards set out by FATF;
  2. By a strong regulatory department - the Financial Services Supervision Unite, headed by a Director of International Financial Services; and
  3. A licensing regime for service providers

No person can engage in the business of providing international financial services representation unless licensed by the Government.

Applicants must be professional such as lawyers or accountants or must be qualified persons with relevant experience. They must also be of sound reputation and meets tests of fit and proper. Once approved, they must have in place adequate professional indemnity insurance and must submit annual audited financial statement.

    • Overseas Involvement

 

THE LEGISLATION

St. Lucia has in place a suite of legislation designed to meet the needs of the industry and has adopted a position of being proactive and responsive with its laws. St. Lucia's legislative package includes:

  • the Registered Agent and Trustee Licensing Act;
  • the International Business Companies Act;
  • the International Trust Act
  • the International Banks Act
  • the International Mutual Funds Act
  • the International Insurance Act
  • the Money Laundering (Prevention) Act

The International Business Companies (IBC) Act

Similar to BVI

St. Lucia's IBC Act is very similar to that of the British Virgin Islands.

Name Flexibility

Whilst some names are not allowed without the consent of the Minister, a St. Lucian IBC can have the words "trusts" and "fund" in its name.

LLC Functionality

St. Lucia's IBC has LLC flexibility that entitles companies from St. Lucia to qualify for "tick the box" status in the USA.

Tax Exemptions

St. Lucian IBCs are exempt from taxes, duties and foreign exchange control. However, there is provision that gives the IBC the option to elect to pay tax at 1%.

No Audit

There is no requirement to file audited accounts save for IBC that elects to pay tax.

Redomiciliations

The Act allows for an IBC to be continued into and out of St. Lucia.

Confidentiality

There is no requirement to file particulars of shareholders and directors of the company. These are not part of the public records. However, we do not allow bearer shares and this makes us FATTF compliant.

Pro- rated Fees

Our annual fee for $300.00 is pro-rated per quarter.

Registered Agent/ Registered Office

All IBCs must maintain a registered office and a registered agent in St. Lucia.

On-line Incorporation

St. Lucia boasts of having the world's only public on-line registry, in that anyone can access the registry via the internet to carry out name searches and do name reservations. The system allows for clients and intermediaries to communicate and give instructions to Registered Agents in St. Lucia to incorporate a company. Clients can check the records of any company owned by them. With this system, incorporations can be done within half an hour.

 

The International Trust Act

Very Strong APT provisions

This Act contains all the usual asset protection provisions to be found nowadays in many of the offshore jurisdictions and geared specifically for the US market.

Charitable Trust/ Purpose Trusts

The Act provides for Purpose Trusts, Charitable trusts and Protective Trusts.

No Perpetuity

There is no perpetuity period for purpose and charitable trusts, with one hundred and twenty (120) years for all other trusts.

Exempt for Tax

International trusts are exempt from taxes, duties and exchange control.

Default Law

Where the Act is silent, English law of Equity and Trusts apply.

Registration

Only the name and existence of a trust is recorded at the Registry along with who is the registered agent.

 

International Banking Act

Licensed Entity

Banks are licensed entities and must first be granted a license to incorporate and operate by the Minister. Applicants must satisfy due diligence requirements and submit a detailed business plan.

Two Classes of Licenses

The Class "A" license allows the holder to do business with the world at large whereas the Class "B" restricts the persons with whom the bank can do business.

Law Capital Requirements

The capital requirements for a Class "A" bank is $1 million and for a Class "B" is $250,000.00.

Deposit Requirements

Banks must maintain a statutory deposit of $100,000.00 at an approved institution.

Annual Fees

The annual license fee for a Class "A" bank is $25,000.00 and for a Class "B" Bank is $15,000.00.

Annual Audit

All licensed entities must submit annual audited financial statements and banks are no exceptions.

 

International Mutual Funds Act

Mutual Funds

St. Lucia’s Act provides for Public funds and Private funds. Private funds are those with less than fifteen (15) members. We are now passing legislation to have professional funds to cater for a special market.

  • Private funds: registered
  • Public funds: licensed
  • Public funds: must file an offering document; must have a licensed administrator and a local director in St. Lucia

Annual Audit Requirements

There is the usual audit requirement for licensed entities and these entities are exempt from all taxes and duties.

 

International Insurance Act

Three Classes of Licenses

The Act provides three classes of license Classes. "A": General; "B": :Long Term; and "C": General and Long Term

Class "A" and Class "C" are subdivided into sub-classes 1 and 2. Sub-Class 1 deals with captives and sub-class 2 is unrestricted.

Capital requirements are low

  • Class A1 - $50,000.00
  • Class A2 - $100,000.00
  • Class B - $100,000.00
  • Class C1 - $150,000.00
  • Class C2 - $200,000.00

Deposit requirements

All insurance companies must maintain a statutory deposit with an approved agency.

 

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.