Offshore Insurance Group Meets In British Virgin Islands

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

10 August 2005

The British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Offshore Group of Insurance Supervisors (OGIS) recently held a three-day seminar to provide training on the region’s insurance regulations.

The seminar, which took place at the Long Bay Beach Resort in Tortola from July 25th to July 27th, was designed to ensure participants developed a fuller understanding of industry risks and the reasons for insurance regulations; the process of obtaining a licence; and the tools available to supervise insurers once they have been licensed.

Presenters included Chris Collins, Head of Insurance Supervision, Gibraltar, FSC; Makoto Okubo, Adviser, International Association of Insurance Supervisors in Basel, Switzerland; Michael Oliver, Director, Insurance, BVI FSC; and Nigel Woodroffe, Director, Insurance, Jersey FSC.

“Offshore insurance is very important to the BVI economy, with the Territory being the fifth largest domicile worldwide for Offshore Captive Insurers,” noted Robert Mathavious, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the BVI FSC.

“As a founding member of OGIS, the BVI FSC is proud to host programmes like this that work to promote the proper supervision of the offshore insurance business," he added.

As the second event sponsored by OGIS in 2005, the seminar attracted delegates from Bahrain, Gibraltar and Samoa as well as many Caribbean countries. It is part of a three-year training programme that OGIS recently introduced in support of its efforts to work with regulators to ensure proper supervision of the offshore insurance business through policy formation and training initiatives.

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