Legal briefings from the world's leading law firms

Both the BVI and Cayman Islands Governments recently announced they will pursue the finalisation of a Model I inter-governmental agreement with the United States in response to FATCA. This will simplify FATCA compliance for a range of BVI and Cayman financial institutions within FATCA's scope.

Harneys looks objectively at the changes that are to be introduced in Cyprus following the final agreement between Cyprus and the troika. In addition, this article examines whether the changes are likely to affect corporate structuring and banking which uses a corporate vehicle in Cyprus.

Harneys answers frequently asked questions about banking in Cyprus in the context of the current banking crisis. Key issues discussed include circumstances under which the Deposit Protection Scheme is activated, which deposits are covered by the Deposit Protection Fund and depositor compensation.

The Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court on 11 March handed down an important ruling on the question of where investors stand in the 'waterfall' of distributions in the liquidation of investment funds under British Virgin Islands law. Harneys discusses the decision's implications.

This table provides a basic comparison of key features of BVI and Cayman investment funds in areas including legal structures, types of funds available and regulatory issues.

For the first time in several decades there will be a comprehensive revamp of the trade mark laws of the British Virgin Islands. The new Act, which borrows from the UK Trade Marks Act 1994, has made substantive changes to the existing legislation. Harneys provides an overview of the new Act.

UK draft regulation will bring in an annual charge called the Annual Residential Property Tax on certain foreign non-natural persons with residential property in UK worth more than £2 million. Harneys looks at the affect this will have for non-doms with property holdings in offshore companies.

The BVI's Approved Manager regime introduces a less onerous regulatory regime for BVI domiciled investment managers and investment advisers and compliments the more heavily regulated investment business licensing regime under Part I of the Securities and Investment Business Act 2010.

Rights issues are utilised by many companies as a means of raising finance and capital to boost an ailing balance sheet or to fund an acquisition. Harneys provides a general introduction and outlines the key points that directors should bear in mind when considering the approval of a rights issue.

This article sets out the impact in the BVI and Cayman of the much anticipated Supreme Court decision in Rubin v Eurofinance SA, which was handed down on 24 October 2012. Rubin deals with the issue of whether orders made in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings can be enforced in English Courts.