​ SEARCHING BVI BUSINESS COMPANY RECORDS AND DUE DILIGENCE CHECK

The British Virgin Islands is one of the leading, largest and most reputable international financial services center globally.  The BVI Financial Services Commission is the only regulator of the financial services in the British Virgin Islands.  The BVI FSC is responsible for all registration of BVI Business Companies through the Registry of Corporate Affairs  There are over 1 million BVI Business Companies formed since the enactment of the International Business Companies Act, 1984 now changed to the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004.  Currently, there is about 450,000 active BVI Business Companies which makes the British Virgin Islands one of the most popular offshore tax haven jurisdiction that has achieved great success for the BVI. A BVI Business Company is tax exempt from all BVI taxes, has limited filings and benefits from a great amount of confidentiality in documents publicly available at the BVI Registry, known as a Company House in places such as the United Kingdom.  The BVI Business Companies Act, 2004 requires the BVI Registrar of Corporate Affairs to maintain a Register of BVI Companies at the BVI Registry of Corporate Affairs. A search of a BVI Company will reveal the current status of the Company and documents that are publicly available.

BVI Company Documents Available for Public Inspection

Documents filed by a BVI Business Company are available for public inspection and generally include:

  • Certificate of Incorporation:  This indicates that the company is registered in the British Virgin Islands and the date and the exact name as appeared in the BVI Register of Companies.
  • Memorandum and Articles of Association:  This contains the bylaws of the BVI Business Company.
  • Register of Mortgages and Charges:  A BVI Business Company search at the Registry of Companies may reveal Register of Mortgages and Charges filed.  The Act requires that the BVI Company maintains an internal register of mortgages and charges.  However, publicly filing of the Registers are not mandatory but they are commonly filed at the BVI Registry.
  • Filed Amendments​:Filed amendments could be anything in a BVI Business Company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association from change in authorized share capital, company structure, director information, change in registered agent etc.
  • Register of Directors, Shareholders and Officers of a BVI Business Company:​  The Register of Directors, Register of Members and Register of Officers contain more information about a BVI Business Company.  These would only be available at the BVI Registry of Corporate Affairs if the BVI Business Company has elected to publicly file these Registers with the BVI Registrar.  Only then would the registers be available for public inspection at the BVI Registry (more known as Company House in the United Kingdom). The names of current directors are available publicly for a BVI Company.
  • VIRRGIN – Virtual Integrated Registry and General Information Network​:​ A VIRRGIN Report can be generated for a BVI Company which gives a summary of the company, its payment history, company status – whether it’s in good standing, inactive, in penalty, dissolved or struck off the Register of Companies.


BVI Company Records and Documents Kept at Registered Agent/Registered Office of a BVI Company

Under the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004, a registered agent is required to maintain certain company records at their office which the registered agent would need consent from its client before any documents from its file could be released by request.  These documents are listed below:

  • Memorandum and Articles of Association and its amendment
  • Updated Register of Directors
  • Updated Register of Members/Shareholders
  • Updated Register of Officers.
  • Copies of all filings with the BVI Registrar of Corporate Affairs. 


Certifying of BVI Company Documents by Registrar:

All documents available for inspection can be certified by the Registrar which can then be notarized with apostille.

While you can get a great amount of documents from the BVI Registry, please note that a more complete file is held at the registered agent of the BVI Company.  In order for the Registered Agent to release a BVI Business Company records’, permission must be granted from their client.

BVI COMPANY RECORDS AND DUE DILIGENCE CHECK

Analytics, Market Research, BVI Company Research, Investigative,  

Corporate Governance Partner.