Financing and Money Services Act (Revised 2020)

Summary

This Act establishes the licensing and supervisory regime for financing business and money services business in the Virgin Islands, administered by the BVI Financial Services Commission. It prohibits carrying on such business without a licence and sets out seven classes of licence covering money transmission, cheque cashing/currency exchange, financing, financing leases, ATM operation, peer to peer/B2B lending, and other specified services.

• Licensing: BVI business companies and foreign companies must hold a licence in the relevant Class (A to G) before carrying on financing or money services business; carrying on unlicensed business is an offence.
• Prudential requirements: Licensees must maintain a financially sound condition, prescribed capital resources and deposits, and adequate systems and controls.
• Governance: Licensees must appoint and report changes to directors and senior officers, maintain records, segregate customer accounts, and ensure compliance with AML/CFT and other relevant laws.
• Financial reporting: BVI licensees must prepare and submit financial statements and periodic reports to the Commission, appoint an auditor, and facilitate audits.
• Insurance and conduct: Licensees must maintain professional indemnity and other prescribed insurance, avoid misleading advertisements, treat customers fairly, and obtain approval before changing their business name.
• Administrative fines: The Act (via its Schedule of Offences) sets out fixed and default administrative penalty amounts, ranging up to $75,000, for contraventions of specific sections such as unauthorised branch operations, failure to report, misleading advertising, and false statements to the Commission.

The Act also empowers the Commission to issue directions, maintain registers, and prescribe further requirements through Regulations and the Regulatory Code, and it sets out transitional provisions for existing businesses at commencement.

Key obligations

• A person must not carry on, or hold itself out as carrying on, financing business or money services business in or from the Virgin Islands without a licence issued under section 9.
• Licensees must maintain a financially sound condition and comply with prescribed capital resources and deposit requirements.
• Licensees must establish and maintain a principal office and obtain Commission authorisation before opening any branch or representative office.
• Licensees must maintain proper records and, for directors, senior officers and persons concerned in management, take reasonable steps to ensure the licensee complies with AML, terrorist financing and proliferation financing laws (section 19A).
• Licensees must segregate customer accounts as required under section 19C.
• BVI licensees must prepare financial statements, have them audited, and submit audited financial statements and periodic financial statements/reports to the Commission (sections 22 to 24).
• BVI licensees must appoint an auditor and make arrangements necessary to enable the auditor to carry out the audit (section 27).
• Licensees must maintain professional indemnity and other prescribed insurance (section 33).
• Licensees must submit returns and report information to the Commission as required, and comply with any notice issued under section 34(2).
• Licensees must not issue misleading advertisements or statements and must comply with Commission directions on advertising (section 35).
• Licensees must take reasonable steps to protect and ensure fair treatment of customers (section 36).
• Licensees must obtain approval before changing their corporate name or trading name (section 37), and comply with any Commission direction to change name (section 38).

Applies to

BVI business companies licensed to carry on financing business, foreign companies licensed to carry on financing business or money services business, money services business licensees (Class A and B), financing business licensees (Class C), financing lease licensees (Class D), ATM operators (Class E), international financing/peer-to-peer lending licensees (Class F), other licensees under Class G, auditors of licensees, directors and senior officers of licensees, post offices carrying on money services business

Related documents

• Financing and Money Services (Amendment) Act, 2020 amends this document
• Financing and Money Services (Amendment) Act, 2021 amends this document
• Financing and Money Services (Amendment) Act, 2023 amends this document