BVI Financial Crime Unit wins Most Responsive Member Award at ARIN-CARIB 2025
The RVIPF's Financial Crime Unit has been named Most Responsive Member by ARIN-CARIB at its annual meeting in Guyana. The award recognises timeliness and professionalism in international investigations.
BVI police financial crime unit recognised by Caribbean asset recovery network
The Royal Virgin Islands Police Force's Financial Crime Unit received the Most Responsive Member Award for 2025/2026 from the Asset Recovery Interagency Network Caribbean (ARIN-CARIB), BVI News reports. The award was presented during the organisation's annual general meeting in Georgetown, Guyana, in July.
ARIN-CARIB links asset recovery and financial crime authorities across the Caribbean region. The network facilitates the rapid exchange of information needed to trace, restrain and recover assets connected to criminal activity.
The BVI unit was singled out for the timeliness, reliability and professionalism of its responses to requests from international partners.
Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Kenrick Davis said the recognition underscored the dedication of Financial Crime Unit officers and reinforced the territory's standing as a trusted international financial centre.
"This recognition is a testament to the hard work of our officers and the strong collaboration with our partners," Davis stated. "It demonstrates the Virgin Islands' unwavering commitment to upholding the highest standards in fighting illicit finance."
The RVIPF described the award as the result of years of targeted work to build and sustain the unit's capacity, and linked it to broader strategic advances in the territory's regulatory and investigative systems.
The force also connected the honour to the government's National Strategic Action Plan to combat financial crime — an initiative that included legislative reforms, enhanced investigative capabilities and measures to strengthen international co-operation in line with Financial Action Task Force standards.
Amendments to the Proceeds of Criminal Conduct Act, introduced in 2025, added customer information orders and account monitoring orders to law enforcement's toolkit. Account monitoring provisions allow the police or the Financial Investigation Agency to seek court orders requiring financial institutions to provide information relevant to specified investigations, improving authorities' ability to trace suspected criminal property.
Inter-agency co-operation also formed a central part of the Financial Crime Unit's operational framework. The unit works alongside the Financial Investigation Agency, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and other competent authorities. Formal information-sharing arrangements and memoranda of understanding between those agencies have strengthened intelligence-sharing efforts against money laundering, terrorist financing and related financial crimes.
Source: BVI News