BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Omonike Robinson-Pickering, Iona Wright, Lucy Frew and Sara Hall, Walkers
• establishing and maintaining an independent audit/review function; and • engaging with the BVI competent authorities, including various reporting and notification requirements. 6. Depositor Protection 6.1 Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS) The Virgin Islands Deposit Insurance Corpora - tion (VIDIC) was established pursuant to the Virgin Islands Deposit Insurance Act, 2016 (as amended) (the “VIDI Act”) and the Virgin Islands Deposit Insurance Corporation Regulations, 2023 (the “VIDI Regulations”). The VIDIC is governed by a six-member Board of Directors from the public and private sec - tors, and an external director. These include the CEO of VIDIC (ex-officio director), the Manag - ing Director of the FSC or their nominee (direc - tor), and four other directors appointed with the approval of the Cabinet of the Government of the BVI, including one external director and one non-executive chair-person. The Virgin Islands Deposit Insurance Corpora - tion provides protection for eligible deposits up to USD100,000 per depositor per member insti - tution. This USD100,000 limit is inclusive of the principal amount and the interest amount of the deposit. Deposits in different member institu - tions are protected separately. Deposits held jointly have separate protection from other types of deposit accounts. Also, joint accounts held with different account holders have separate protection at USD100,000 col - lectively and not USD100,000 per joint account holder.
Deposits held in trust accounts (includes client deposit accounts held by professional practices – eg, legal and accounting) are protected sepa - rately from deposits in other types of accounts. Any deposit received or held by a member institution of the VIDIC from or on behalf of a depositor, notwithstanding the commercial denomination used by the member institution, is an insurable deposit. Regardless of the com - mercial denomination of an insurable deposit, insurable deposits fall within the definition of the following types of deposits: • savings accounts; • checking accounts; • certificate of deposits; • electronic deposits; • special savings accounts; and • other deposits accounts that from time to time VIDIC may add to this list. The availability of deposit insurance is not limited to citizens and residents of the BVI and any per - son who maintains deposits in a member institu - tion is entitled to the deposit insurance provided by the VIDI Act and the VIDI Regulations. 7. Prudential Regime 7.1 Capital, Liquidity and Related Risk Control Requirements The FSC adopts the guidelines as set by the Basel Committee for bank regulation and super - visory practices for the calculation of the capital adequacy ratio. The Basel Committee recom - mends a minimum capital adequacy ratio based on risk-weighted assets of 8%. A BVI bank must, at all times, maintain a mini - mum risk-weighted capital adequacy ratio of
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