ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands (AP) - As the Bahamas' offshore financial sector lost business amid tighter regulations, the British Virgin Islands has enjoyed a 36 percent increase in registrations of offshore firms.

Although it is not possible to determine if the British Caribbean territory is gaining customers from the Bahamas' loss, its increase in the first four months of the year comes as the Bahamas announced it lost $2 million during that same period.

The British Virgin Islands registered 64,000 International Business Companies in that time, compared to 54,000 for the same period last year, said Lisa Penn Lettsome, deputy director of the Department of Financial Services.

The territory made $20 million from the registration of IBCs during that period, up from $18 million the year before.

During that same period, the Bahamas lost $2 million from registration revenues, which dropped to $4.8 million for the first four months of the year. During that period, the country had 6,000 fewer IBC registrations.

The Bahamas last year passed nine laws to strengthen regulations in the offshore sector in hopes of being removed from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force's blacklist of 15 countries deemed uncooperative in fighting money laundering.

Among those measures was the government's effort to stamp out anonymous ownership of IBCs, by requiring the names of two directors and the office address on the registration.

BVI allows companies to register in the name of agents. The agents must ensure that companies are operating within the law, Penn Lettsome said.

There are more than 400,000 IBCs registered in the British Virgin Islands. The Bahamas has closer to 20,000 IBCs.