MAURITIUS Law and Practice Contributed by: Bhavna Ramsurun, Pinki Mahata, Lorna Senivassen and Shreya Mungur, BLC Robert & Associates
1. Market Overview 1.1 State of the Market
product offerings and emerging trends in the fintech ecosystem. As an international financial centre and grow - ing fintech hub, Mauritius was one of the first countries in the Eastern and Southern African region to adopt comprehensive legislation on vir - tual assets and initial token offerings – namely, the Virtual Asset and Initial Token Offering Ser - vices Act 2021 in February 2022. This statute regulates the business activities of virtual asset service providers and initial token offerings. In addition, Mauritius is a politically stable juris - diction whose system of law is inspired by Eng - lish common law and French civil law, with a final right of judicial recourse to the Judicial Commit - tee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. At the same time, it is geographically and cultur - ally close to countries in Africa and Asia, making it a preferred platform for establishing holding structures in the emerging markets of these con - tinents. Mauritius is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Afri - ca (COMESA). Mauritius’ regulatory framework provides for both retail funds and alternative investment funds (AIFs) – the latter of which are authorised as investment funds generally and further cat - egorised as expert funds or professional col - lective investment schemes (professional CISs) under the laws of Mauritius. They are available only to sophisticated and expert investors and high net worth individuals, as well as being exempted from the stricter regulations applied to retail funds. Retail funds are offered to the public and are regulated as open-ended funds (known as CISs) or closed-end funds (CEFs). The FSC has also added additional fund categories such
Mauritius has established itself as a leading international financial services centre and has made it into the pantheon of successful develop - ing economies by adopting international norms and best practices and promoting a business- friendly environment. The choice of Mauritius as a domicile for structuring business into Africa and Asia is well established among fund managers and institutional investors, who can benefit from the well-established and advantageous eco - system. Mauritius has so far concluded 46 tax treaties and is a party to 29 Investment Promo - tion and Protection Agreements, which provide extra assurance and protection for the country’s potential investors. Mauritius has always proved itself to be a jurisdiction of economic substance. Mauritius is a recognised jurisdiction for global investment funds, with 946 funds (both open- ended and closed-end), according to statistics published by the Financial Services Commis - sion (FSC) in 2024. Mauritius has consistently improved its position in the Global Financial Centre Index (GFCI) over the years and features as a financial centre likely to become significant according to the 36th edition of the GFCI. Mauri - tius had around 932 global funds as of end Octo - ber 2024, as per the monthly global business data sheet issued by the FSC. Mauritius has been at the forefront of providing innovative products and solutions to investors. The FSC is keen to develop fintech-related ini - tiatives in Mauritius and has launched its Fin - tech and Innovation webpage in order to meet the diverse needs of the financial services and fintech industries. This is a comprehensive resource hub and an additional feature on the FSC website, aiming to stay abreast of new
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