BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Chris Duncan and Katrina Lindsay, Carey Olsen
or providing virtual assets services when a trans - action (or series of linked transactions) involves virtual assets valued at USD1,000 or more. If it is determined that a fintech company is car - rying on or providing virtual assets services, the fintech company will be required to comply with the BVI’s AML/CTF regime, which will include: • adopting a manual of compliance procedures, which sets out the identification, record-keep - ing, internal reporting and internal controls and communications procedures that must be adopted by the fintech company in order to forestall and prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing (the “Policies and Procedures” ), and imple - menting such Policies and Procedures; • providing copies of the Policies and Proce - dures to the FSC or the FIA (as applicable); • ensuring its employees are familiar with the Policies and Procedures and the provisions of the AML/CTF/proliferation financing legisla - tive framework; • obtaining evidence of identity, verifying evi - dence of identity, and maintaining a record of the evidence obtained, transactions carried out and reports made to the FIA in respect of any applicant for business; • maintaining a register of all reports made by the fintech company to the FIA and all inquir - ies made to the fintech company by the FIA in relation to money laundering; • appointing a money laundering officer and notifying the FSC or the FIA (as applicable) within 14 days of such appointment; and • providing training for employees to assist them in: (a) recognising and handling transactions for a person who is, or appears to be, engaged in money laundering; and
(b) dealing with customers where such trans - actions have been reported to the FIA. 2.15 Financial Action Task Force Standards The BVI is committed to complying with Finan - cial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations, which are the global benchmark for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and pro - liferation financing. The BVI has implemented a legal and regulatory framework that seeks to incorporate FATF’s 40 Recommendations, and continually updates its framework to address emerging threats and ensure alignment with FATF’s evolving recommendations. 2.16 Reverse Solicitation There are no specific regulatory restrictions on offering otherwise regulated products and ser - vices from another jurisdiction in the BVI in a reverse solicitation scenario, assuming these are non-BVI products and any services are being provided from outside of the BVI. In the event that any financial services are being marketed into the BVI, then there are content requirements that may apply. If the products or services are to be advertised in the BVI or offered to BVI resident investors (other than by way of reverse solicitation) then further advice is recommended. 3. Robo-Advisers 3.1 Requirement for Different Business Models Although automated investment platforms have gained in popularity and interest, the regula - tory regime currently in place in the BVI does not expressly contemplate robo-advisers. To the extent that a BVI-incorporated entity holds the algorithm or software that performs the function of a robo-adviser, such entity may be required
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