Above: the BVI

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The British Virgin Islands “continues to dominate” new offshore company registration activity by volume, according to a report from Appleby Global.

The British Virgin Islands has maintained a six-fold lead over its nearest competitor, the Cayman Islands, according to the report.

Overall, new offshore company registrations fell in both territories, however, seeing about a 10 percent drop in the second half of 2012.

The British Islands saw a 12 percent drop to 29,225 new company registrations in the second half of 2012, while Cayman saw a 13 percent drop to 4,176 in the same period.

Bermuda actually saw a 7 percent increase in the last six months of 2012.

“There are signs that 2013 will be a watershed year in terms of seeing a universal return to pre-2009 activity levels across the offshore jurisdictions,” said Farah Ballands, partner and global head of fiduciary & administration services at Appleby, in a release.