The British Virgin Islands (BVI) has launched its Asia Pacific regional office, BVI House Asia, in Hong Kong.
The launch is aimed at expanding and strengthening the BVI’s footprint in Asia Pacific with a focus on financial services.
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The main drivers behind the BVI’s move are rising interest among rich Chinese and Southeast Asians in setting up trusts to pass on their wealth to the next generation and another is to attract more investment funds to domicile in the jurisdiction, rather than using the Cayman Islands for Asian alternative vehicles such as hedge and private equity fund firms.
The launch of the new office comes amid growing demand for closer ties with the jurisdiction, particularly in the Greater China region. More than 40% of BVI financial services business is from Asia.
Orlando Smith, premier of the BVI said: "Deepening the commercial footprint of financial services in this critical market has always been our goal.
"With a close economic relationship in this region for over a quarter of a century, we are delighted to be part of one of today’s leading financial centres. We would of course like to see the number of funds increasing in the territory," he added.
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By GlobalDataBVI House Asia as a central Asia-Pacific hub represents the BVI government in the Asia region, promotes investment into the jurisdiction from Asia, strengthens ties with government authorities and will provide timely access to services for BVI business users.
Apart from these, the office expands its relationship with mainland China and responds to social, political or economic inquiries in Asia.
BVI in Asia Pacific provides a wide range of services including asset protection, property holding, financial management, trading, copyrighting, bespoke trust services, and investment business.
"We see a growing and continued demand for BVI financial services including trusts and succession planning from clients in Asia, including Mainland China," Smith added.
