O’Neal Webster, a well-established British Virgin Islands law firm with offices in Tortola and London, is organized for the efficient delivery of legal services for our clients throughout the world. Our dedication to professional standards frames our business savvy approach and contributes to our clients’ successes. We stand by our client service promise and welcome your enquiry.
OW Managing Partner Vanessa King and OW attorneys Asha Johnson-Willins and Akita Alexander-Mercer are attending the 2026 STEP Caribbean Conference on beautiful St. Lucia May 11-13. Will you be there too?
This conference is a do-not-miss opportunity to engage in thoughtful discussions on governance frameworks, contemporary succession planning, family vulnerabilities and the increasing influence of mobility and cross-jurisdictional regulatory requirements on legacy planning.
Bringing together leading voices from the Caribbean and the global private-client community, they offer attendees both technical rigor and strategic insight. This year’s conference will examine the transfer of not just wealth, but also values, leadership and stewardship across generations.If you are planning to attend, drop a comment below and come and have a chat with us at our table on the exhibit floor. See you there!
On April 1, 2026, the BVI Financial Services Commission (BVI FSC) formally launched its legitimate interest transaction functionality, allowing beneficial ownership information to be obtained for BVI companies and limited partnerships where a valid interest can be demonstrated within a controlled non-public framework.
This article, prepared by O’Neal Webster Partner Christopher Simpson, examines the BVI’s primary beneficial ownership principles, including how access through the “legitimate interest” standard is expected to function.
O’Neal Webster has again been recognized in the Chambers Global Guide 2026 for the British Virgin Islands in Dispute Resolution and Corporate & Finance, including Funds. Ranked individuals include Paul Dennis, K.C., for Dispute Resolution and Kerry Anderson and Christopher Simpson in Corporate & Finance, including Funds. Chambers rankings are widely regarded as a mark of excellence across the international legal profession. A ranking reflects performance in an independent and in-depth research process that evaluates law firms and lawyers based on client and market feedback.
Limitation of liability in the BVI Merchant Shipping Act is a legal mechanism that allows a shipowner (or other entitled party) to cap their total financial exposure to maritime claims at a maximum amount, regardless of the actual value of the claims. It applies to claims arising from collisions, cargo damage, personal injury, loss of life, delay, wreck removal and other incidents.
Limitation claims play a vital role in protecting shipowners and other parties from disproportionate liability arising in maritime and commercial contexts. Learn more >>>
For investors and family offices operating internationally, managing risk while keeping structures simple is a challenge. The British Virgin Islands (BVI) offers a well-established solution: segregated portfolio companies (SPCs).
An SPC is a single company that can be divided into multiple legally protected portfolios, each of which can hold its own investments, contracts and liabilities separately.
What makes the BVI SPC particularly attractive is that this separation is set out in law rather than based solely on internal accounting, contractual arrangements or constitutional documents.
In January 2025, the O’Neal Webster team of Paul Dennis, K.C., Nadine Whyte Laing and Koya Ryan successfully applied on behalf of the Attorney General of the Virgin Islands, for the appointment of joint provisional liquidators over 30 BVI registered companies, alleged to be involved in a transnational criminal organization headed by The Prince Group, a Cambodian corporate conglomerate that includes companies incorporated in the BVI, the Cayman Islands, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Cambodian national, Chen Zhi, is alleged to be the chairman and mastermind of The Prince Group which, together with Chen himself, has been the target of a variety of coordinated enforcement actions in multiple jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Cambodia. LEARN MORE >>>
The BVI Financial Services Commission has as of December 24, 2025 approved an extension of the period during which existing entities formed prior to January 2, 2025 may file non-public Registers of Members (ROM), Registers of General Partners (ROGP), Registers of Limited Partners (ROLP), and Beneficial Ownership (BO) information, without filing fees and penalties, until March 31, 2026. The previous deadline was December 31, 2025.
This extension does not amend the statutory transitional filing deadline of December 31, 2025, but represents only a deferral of the enforcement of penalties and a temporary suspension of filing fees for a period of three months.
Entities that have not filed the requisite information will have their status reflected as “in penalty” and therefore cannot make other filings or obtain a certificate of good standing, which is essential for some business activities. Therefore, although no penalties will be charged, it is best that any affected entity regularize their status as soon as possible by making any outstanding statutory filings.
Entities should be aware that filing fees and late filing penalties for ROM, ROGP, ROLP, and BO will be reinstated from April 1, 2026.
Entities are therefore advised to consult their registered agent or your usual O’Neal Webster lawyer as soon as possible if they are affected by the foregoing.
In 2023, it was estimated that the value of assets under management by hedge funds was in the region of US $5 trillion. Increasingly, offshore jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands (BVI) feature in the structures used by onshore and offshore investment managers to cater for a growing and diverse cross section of investors, including newly minted fintech millionaires and billionaires. The BVI is the world’s largest offshore corporate domicile with over 350,000 active companies, and it is also the world’s second-largest offshore investment funds domicile with close to 2,000 investment funds.
The following is the fourth and final part of the very popular series written by Chris McKenzie. Topics covered in Part Four:
