British Virgin Islands: corporate bank account opening
BVI corporate account CDD: constitutional records, 10% corporate shareholders and representatives under the AMLTF Code.
British Virgin Islands · Banks · BVI FSC
Corporate customers, including overseas companies · Account opening: AML/CDD review
By Matthew Lee
Website capture: Registry of Corporate Affairs
The FSC's CDD guidance lists incorporation or formation evidence, constitutional documents, applicable licences, powers of attorney and a director's statement of business activity among legal-person verification documents. The BVI registry guide explains public products and access to ownership records.
Shareholders and individuals
Section 25 of the AMLTF Code covers verification of a corporate applicant, a corporate shareholder holding 10% or more of interest or voting rights, a corporate director and a corporate representative. Obtain the relevant registration and governing documents for those legal persons.
Identify and verify the relevant beneficial owners, directors or equivalent managers and people acting for the applicant under the Code. Request the ownership records and nominee or control agreements needed to establish the individuals behind corporate layers.
Verify the account representative and authority. Retain the company resolution or power of attorney and the operators' mandate.
Funding and acceptance
Obtain the purpose, expected transactions and funding details. Request the contracts or financing documents needed to explain proposed receipts and payments. Apply enhanced measures for higher-risk cases, relevant PEP controls and sanctions screening before acceptance.
The FSC identifies new relationships, suspicion, higher-risk scenarios and doubts about earlier information as CDD triggers. Apply ongoing monitoring under section 21 and revisit ownership and authority evidence when it changes.