BVI Business Companies (Restricted Company Names) Notice (Revised 2020)

Summary

This Notice, issued under section 18(2) of the BVI Business Companies Act, sets out a list of restricted words and phrases that cannot be used in the name of a BVI business company without prior written consent from the BVI Financial Services Commission. It applies to anyone incorporating or renaming a BVI business company through the Registrar of Corporate Affairs.

• Restricted words: A Schedule lists restricted words and phrases (and their derivatives, cognates, abbreviations and foreign-language translations), covering terms suggesting banking, insurance, trust, fund, government, royalty, gaming and similar regulated or sensitive activities.
• Registration bar: The Registrar must not register a company whose name contains a restricted word or phrase unless the Commission has given prior written consent to its use.
• Abbreviated forms: Where the Commission consents to a restricted name that has an abbreviated form, the company may use either the full or abbreviated version as part of its name.
• Punctuation rule: Where an abbreviation in the Schedule is used, a full stop may be placed at the end of the abbreviation or between the abbreviated letters.

The Notice has been amended twice (by S.I.s 11/2015 and 34/2018) to update the Schedule of restricted words, and the version reproduced here is revised to 1 January 2020. It does not impose ongoing periodic filing duties, but acts as a continuing restriction on company naming that applicants and registered agents must check before submitting an incorporation or name-change application.

Key obligations

• A company name containing any word or phrase listed in the Schedule (or a derivative, cognate, abbreviation or foreign-language translation of it) cannot be registered by the Registrar without the Commission's prior written consent.
• Where consent is given for a restricted name with an abbreviated form, the company must use either the full or abbreviated form as approved, not an unapproved variant.
• Where an abbreviation from the Schedule is used in a company name, punctuation must follow the prescribed format (a full stop at the end or between abbreviated letters).

Applies to

BVI business companies, applicants for company incorporation or name change, registered agents