Private trust company legislation in the BVI and Cayman

Both the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands have recently enacted legislation to clarify and upgrade their laws in relation to the formation and operation of private trust companies. In this article, co-authored by Elizabeth Wilkinson, head of Maitland's BVI office, and Sara Collins, who heads up our Cayman office, we provide a brief overview of the rationale behind the legislation and the planning possibilities afforded by the new regulations.

Trust business, which essentially means the business of acting as the trustee or protector of a trust, is a licensed activity in many offshore jurisdictions, including the BVI and Cayman. In consequence, for a BVI company or a Cayman company to act as the trustee of a trust, it must usually apply to the regulatory body in the jurisdiction to be licensed and regulated on an ongoing basis. This can be a time-consuming and rather intrusive process, particularly in circumstances such as private family trust arrangements with legitimate concerns about the protection of their identity and financial privacy.

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