We are delighted to announce that Mauritius has been removed from the ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) with effect from 21 October 2021. This means that Mauritius no longer requires increased monitoring by FATF, the intergovernmental organization that aims to prevent money-laundering and terrorist financing. This is very welcome news for Mauritius and comes as the culmination of a concerted and focused effort by the Mauritian Government, working in conjunction with the industry, since the original grey-listing in February 2020 (and the consequent ‘black-listing’ by the EU from October 2020), to ensure that Mauritius effected the necessary reforms to its AML/CFT framework to obtain its removal from the list. Mauritius’ removal from the EU list is also expected imminently.

A series of measures, including legislative changes, were effected, resulting in FATF, at its June 2021 Plenary session, determining that Mauritius had substantially completed its action plan to address the strategic deficiencies in its AML/CFT framework that had originally been identified. This was followed by an on-site assessment, conducted on 13 and 15 September 2021, during which FATF verified that Mauritius had implemented its AML/CFT reforms and that the necessary political commitment was there to sustain implementation of these reforms in the future. Finally, at the FATF October 2021 Plenary meeting, FATF removed Mauritius from the list of jurisdictions requiring increased monitoring based on the following key reforms implemented by the country:

• conducting outreach to promote understanding of ML and TF risks and obligations;
• developing risk-based supervision plans effectively for the Financial Services Commission;
• ensuring access to accurate basic and beneficial ownership information by competent authorities in a timely manner; and
• providing training for law enforcement authorities to ensure that they have the capability to conduct money-laundering investigations.

This long-awaited development, coinciding with the full opening of Mauritius’ borders, is a very welcome boost for Mauritius’ role as the International Financial Centre for the region and serves to put Mauritius firmly back on the map as the preferred structuring platform for Asia and Africa for institutional and other international investors. International Proximity has long championed Mauritius as the IFC of choice for investment bridging Asia and Africa and would be delighted to discuss any Mauritian structuring requirements.