Most Offshore Centres Report Rise In New Company Registrations; Caymans, BVI Drop - Data

Tom Burroughes

18 August 2014

The number of new company registrations increased in most offshore jurisdictions in the second half of 2013, according to Appleby, a provider of offshore legal, fiduciary and administration services.

In data that suggests that offshore jurisdictions remain in relatively robust health despite a variety of external pressures, the firm said that in total, there were 44,615 new offshore company incorporations in the second half of 2013. The total number of active companies rose to 671,000, according to the firm’s latest On the Register report.

“As the global economy follows a path to recovery, offshore company registration data reveals that levels of new company registrations are up in most jurisdictions during the second half of 2013, with increases of between 5 per cent and 10 per cent,” Farah Ballands, partner and global head of fiduciary and administration services at Appleby, said.

Overall, the combined total of new offshore incorporations in the second half of 2013 represents a slow-down compared to the preceding six months, the report found.

The firm said much of the pull-back stemmed from a decline in incorporations in the British Virgin Islands - the offshore jurisdiction that attracts the most company registrations. Though it maintained a two-fold lead over its nearest comparator, the Seychelles, the number of new companies joining the BVI register shrank by 17 per cent when compared to the first half of the year.

There is a “largely positive” story for other places; the Cayman Islands was the only other offshore jurisdiction to report a decrease in new registrations in the second half of 2013 when compared to the first half of the year.

The largest year-on-year increase was seen in the Seychelles (29 per cent), followed by Bermuda (16 per cent), which saw a recent high in new incorporations — more than 1,000 annually for the first time since 2008.