BVI banks must take more risks to encourage investment

Opposition legislator and businessman Mark Vanterpool has criticized local lenders within the British Virgin Islands for avoiding the level of risk that is needed to drive growth in the region.

He said this during a recent sitting of legislators at the House of Assembly. During the discourse, legislators debated the Virgin Islands Investment Act 2020, a policy suggested to upgrade the way business is done in the BVI, and give the territory an attractive outlook and also encourage local investment.

In his contributions to the debate, Vanterpool reiterated, over and again, the important role banks must play in the move to drive up investment on the island. 

He maintained that investors need financing and banks in the territory must be positioned properly to help. 

“If our banks are not prepared to take risks, to lend to our people, [then] why are they here?” Vanterpool questioned. “Banking involves risks, any investment involves risks.”

Truly, banks in any progress-oriented company must take more risks and ramp up financing. For investors to bet big on the BVI’s economy, lenders must bet big on investors.