The standard does not base the calculation or value of a Financial Account (Trust Property) on the local laws of the BVI. The Standard at Section 1. Subparagraph A(4) – Account balance or value states that “in the case of an equity or debt interest in a Financial Institution, the balance or value of an

In Section V and Section VI of the CRS Commentary the following must be noted:   Section V. C. Entity Accounts with respect to which reporting is required. With respect to Preexisting Entity Accounts described in paragraph B, only accounts that are held by one or more Entities that are Reportable Persons, or by Passive NFEs

The BVI Investment Entity can make that decision. What should be noted is under BVI law the RFI remains responsible for any failure identified if any with the due diligence and reporting done by the Trustee.

If these persons exercise ultimate effective control over the trust, they must always be treated as controlling persons of a trust or an account holder and as such must be reported. If they do not, then they are not account holders or controlling persons.

The account will not be reported since it has no account holder. As stated in our presentation the only account holder (settlor) has passed away, therefore, for the moment the RFI will treat the account as an excluded account. When circumstances change (i.e. the distributions have been made to the beneficiaries), then the account will

The Closure of any financial account that is held by a reportable person must be reported. If the closure of the account and withdrawal of the fund means that the entity no longer meets the definition of an investment then, then the RFI must also make an application for deregistration to the BVI with the

The relationship manager only becomes relevant where the account is a high value account. A relationship manager is an officer or other employee of an FFI who is assigned responsibility for specific account holders on an on-going basis (including as an officer or employee that is a member of an FFI’s private banking department), advises

The location of a Trust (as an RFI) will depend on where the trustee(s) is resident. If the Trustee of the Trust is located in Barbados, then the Trust must register with Barbados and report its financial accounts there. The Trust will not register in the BVI. 

The settlor(s), Trustee(s), the protector(s) (if any), and the beneficiary/beneficiaries or class of beneficiaries, and any other natural person(s) exercising ultimate effective control over the trust (including through a chain of control or ownership), must always be treated as controlling persons of a trust, regardless of whether or not any of them exercises control over

Given the fact that settlors are listed because they exercise ultimate effective control over the trust, they will have to be named. In a case where they do not have such control then they are not an account holder.