Legislative progress toward a FinTech Hub
Mauritius is positioning itself as the ‘go to’ hub for fintech and digital business in the Africa-Asia region. To facilitate this goal, enabling legislative provisions have been put in place:
- On 17 September 2018, via a guidance note, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) recognised digital assets as an asset-class for investment by sophisticated and expert investors.
- In early 2019, the FSC published the Financial Services (Custodian services (digital asset)) Rules 2019 (CDA Rules 2019) to regulate the safekeeping of digital assets.
- The FSC provided further clarification on its regulatory approach to security token offerings in a second guidance note.
- In 2020, the FSC issued a third guidance note setting out a common set of standards for Security Token Offerings and providing for the licensing of Security Token Trading Systems.
- In February 2021 the FSC issued a consultation paper on the introduction of a regulatory landscape for a Fintech Service Provider (FSP) licence to establish a supervisory regime for providers of technology services looking to establish a commercial presence and operate in or from Mauritius.
The scope of these provisions was limited to custodian services and to digital assets such as ‘securities’ and ‘security tokens’.