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by pltm
(PLTM) - As the world and its financial industry rapidly change, the British Virgin Islands has no greater time than now to step up and advance its offerings and services in order to be a worthy competitor. This is according to Interim Director of BVI Finance, Mrs. Lorna Smith OBE.
Earlier this month, Mrs. Smith made this comment while speaking to stakeholders of the BVI’s financial services sector, stating that whatever needs to be implemented with the aim of advancing the BVI needs to be done now, as time is of the essence.
“We don't have ten or twenty years; we have to move very very quickly.”
She said, “The world is changing, financial services as we know it is changing rapidly. The elephant in the room is the numbers we have. We are doing all these things and our numbers are dropping. That’s evidence that the world is changing. I want us to quickly get on with implementation as quickly as possible. Get everyone on board to diversify our financial services. We are in it for the long run, but as we used to know it, it is changing.”
She stressed, “We need to diversify, we need to get our value added, we need to get our legislation in place, our investment programme up and running. All these things need to be done. We don't have time.”
Earlier this month, BVI Forward released 10 priority initiatives to be implemented to enhance the local financial sector. The projects include reforming procedures within Immigration and Labour departments, new taxes, enhance FSC customer service and establishing a delivery unit.
BVI Forward was created one year ago to ensure that the public and private sector structures and systems needed to support a sustainable financial services sector are in place and working effectively.
Mrs. Smith also disclosed that as a result of a survey carried out by BVI Finance, the findings indicated the need for greater substance and value within the BVI, in addition to improved infrastructure and better government services.
The survey sought to gather the stakeholders stance on whether the BVI should participate in the country by country reporting, in addition to addressing the issue of substance.
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