Mauritius Consolidates Financial Services Regulation

by Lorys Charalambous, for LawAndTax-News.com, Cyprus

05 April 2005

The Mauritius Financial Services Commission announced last week that the Financial Services Development (Amendment) Bill, the Securities Bill; and the Insurance Bill have been passed by the National Assembly.

According to the FSC, the 2005 Securities Act establishes a framework for the regulation of securities markets, market participants, self-regulatory organisations, and the offering and trading of securities to ensure fair, efficient and transparent securities market. It aims at striking an appropriate balance between the protection of investors, the interest of market makers and market participants and the financial system in general.

The Insurance Act 2005, meanwhile, provides for the implementation of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors’ (IAIS) Standards and Core Principles and focuses on specific regulatory issues relating to capital adequacy, solvency, corporate governance, early warning systems and the protection of policyholders and the financial system at large.

The main objective of the Financial Services Development (Amendment) Act 2005 is to further enhance the quality and effectiveness of financial regulation and supervision, by providing the FSC with the power to impose a wider range of administrative sanctions including, a public censure and an administrative penalty.

The Act also provides for the establishment of a Financial Services Review Panel to which any person who is aggrieved by a decision of the FSC or of a Self Regulatory Organisation may apply for a review.

However, these new enactments have not yet come into force.

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