The British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission has introduced a new electronic reporting system for filing annual fund returns.

Law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman says this will facilitate the commission’s regulation and monitoring of the British Virgin Islands funds industry while providing a significantly more efficient and secure environment for filing annual returns.

The new electronic reporting system supports submissions by segregated portfolio companies as well umbrella structures with improved formatting and the ability to save entries for later submission. The information obtained from the filing is consolidated and used for statistical purposes.

The deadline for filing is 15 October 2009 for the reporting period ending 31 December 2008, but any fund which has already submitted a hard copy of the return is not required to re-file.  Such funds may use the online application for the next reporting period ending 31 December 2009 whose filing deadline will be 30 June 2010.