The British Virgin Islands (BVI) legislature has made several amendments to the Territory's Trustee Act (the Act). These were made by the Trustee (Amendment) Act, 2024 (the Amendment Act).
The relevant amendments have been made to reflect issues arising from the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force Mutual Evaluation Report (the Report) and a number other BVI statutes, such as the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004, have similarly been amended to reflect issues arising from the Report.
The recommendations arising from the Report insofar as they relate to trusts cover two basic issues: (a) the implementation of a requirement for trustees to keep accurate beneficial ownership information, and to update that information on a timely basis, and (b) imposing penalties for trustees which fail to provide information to competent authorities such as the BVI's Financial Services Commission.
As a result of those two recommendations the Trustee Act has been amended in two respects. First section 92A of the Act has been amended to introduce new definitions for a 'beneficial owner and 'beneficial owner information' and, secondly, a new section 92B of the Act has been inserted into the statute.
The new section 92B essentially places an obligation on trustees to collect, keep and maintain beneficial ownership information in relation to trusts which is both accurate and up-to-date.
Additionally trustees are required to take reasonable steps to verify the identities of beneficial owners and beneficial owner information to ensure that it is accurate, and up-to-date; when a change occurs in the beneficial owner or the information relating to such owner (or to the beneficial owner's interest in the trust), the trustee is required to update that information on a timely basis.
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.
