Guidelines and Operating Procedures of the LSC (Consolidated 2015)

Summary

This is an internal procedures manual issued by the BVI Financial Services Commission (FSC) governing how its Licensing and Supervisory Committee (LSC) operates. It sets out the LSC's membership, meeting and voting procedures, guiding principles (confidentiality, consistency, due process, etc.), decision-making and delegation framework, and how it handles licensing applications, complaints, appeals and enforcement referrals. It is issued for the guidance of the LSC itself, but is published so that licensees and other stakeholders can understand how the Commission's licensing and supervisory decisions are made.

• Governance and membership: Establishes the LSC Secretariat, membership rules, chairmanship, quorum, tenure and voting procedures for the Committee.
• Guiding principles and conduct: Sets out principles of confidentiality, transparency, due process and a code of conduct (use of official information, gifts, media contact, conflicts of interest) for LSC members and staff.
• Application and decision processes: Details how applications and papers are submitted, reviewed and decided by the LSC, including treatment of late or walk-in documents, round-robin decisions, and communication of decisions to applicants.
• Delegation of authority: Describes the scheme under which the LSC may delegate specific licensing and supervisory decisions to Commission staff, including forms of notice, duration, extension and termination of delegated authority (Schedules 2 and 3).
• Complaints, appeals and enforcement: Sets out procedures for receiving and registering complaints (including whistleblower complaints), mediating disputes, dealing with abusive treatment, referring enforcement issues, and maintaining a regulatory watch list and register of decisions.
• Publication: Allows matters otherwise required to be published in the Gazette to also be published on the Commission's website, and addresses publication of the names of licensees.

The document expressly states it is for the exclusive guidance of the LSC and does not itself create legal liability for the Commission, the LSC or its members; its publication is informational for licensees and other stakeholders wishing to understand FSC internal processes rather than a source of direct compliance obligations on regulated entities.

Key obligations

• The LSC Secretariat must maintain a Register of Complaints and a Register of LSC Decisions (Schedule 4).
• Directors of regulatory Divisions must submit memoranda and other papers to the LSC in the prescribed form (Schedule 1) and within the period specified for submission of documents.
• Any delegation of authority by the LSC must be recorded using the prescribed Notice of Delegation, Notice of Extension of Time, or Notice of Termination forms (Schedule 2/3).
• Complaints received must be handled according to the nature-of-complaint and identity-of-complainant procedures, including protections for whistleblowers.
• Where a matter is required to be published in the Gazette, the relevant Division must arrange for transmission to the Secretary for authorization of publication, including on the Commission's website.

Applies to

licensees, applicants for licences, regulated persons, complainants

Related documents

• This document replaces Licensing and Supervisory Committee, Guidelines and Operating Procedures (Revised 31 August 2012)