Nevis - Jurisdiction Update

August 2002

St Kitts & Nevis now fully accepted by FATF & OECD

The Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) have concluded that the Federation of St Kitts & Nevis (“the Federation”) has made significant progress in terms its legislation and in the efficiency and effectiveness of its anti-money laundering measures. Accordingly, the Federation has now been fully accepted by the FATF.

Measures introduced by the Federation to achieve the approval of the FATF included;

a) Amending the Federation’s Anti Money Laundering Regulations. The impact of the amendment is to permit the granting of professional service client status by Registered Agents only in those instances where the professional service client provides the Registered Agent with information including the full name, address, date of birth and passport number of the ultimate client.

b) Enactment of the Nevis Business Corporation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2001, amending the Nevis Business Corporation Ordinance 1984. The amendment deals specifically with the issue of bearer shares and encompasses all existing and future corporations. Under the new legislation any share certificate issued to bearer must be retained in safe custody by the Registered Agent or any other person authorised by the Minister of Finance.

Every registered agent must keep and maintain a record of each bearer share issued. Such record shall include the details of the beneficial owner, i.e. name, address, date of birth, nationality and passport number.

The Federation has also been accepted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development “OECD”. The Federation has submitted a letter to the OECD regarding proposals to be introduced no later than 2005. The letter states, inter alia, that the Federation will comply with the transparency and exchange of information requirements of the OECD. The letter refers to the preparation of financial statements for all Nevis entities. At this stage the application of the auditing requirement is unclear as the appropriate legislative changes have not yet appeared.

Certificates of Incorporation

In addition to the English version of the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, the Nevis Financial Services Department, can now issue a Certificate of Incorporation and Endorsement Certificate bearing the name of the company in any other foreign language, including Chinese. In the event of any inconsistency, English shall prevail. This service will also apply to the Certificate of Formation and Endorsement Certificates for LLC’s.

This new service means that Nevis is favourably placed as compared to other jurisdictions whose laws do not permit a foreign language to be depicted on the Certificate of Incorporation.

If you have any further questions regarding the recent Nevis developments please contact us.