FATF: Mauritius off the grey list

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) concluded, at its October’s 2021 plenary, that Mauritius would no longer be subject to increased monitoring. The introduction of strong policies and measures by the Mauritian government enabled the International Financial Centre to comply with the highest international standards in terms of Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).

The FATF complimented Mauritius’ satisfactory improvement in relation to its AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism) regime. With Mauritius getting off the grey list, global investors will look forward to using Mauritius as the investment and business platform, as the country reinforces its stand as a jurisdiction of substance and repute.

Mauritius was reassessed on 3 recommendations of the FATF, and is now ‘Compliant’ or ‘Largely Compliant’ with 39 out of 40 recommendations. Mauritius is still rated as Partially Compliant on Recommendation 15 (New Technologies). With its proposed Virtual Assets Business Bill, along with its Digital Assets Custodian Services Licence, Mauritius could become the first country worldwide to achieve full compliance to all the FATF recommendations.

For Alan Rungassamy, Director at Sunibel Corporate Services: “This is a positive step in cementing Mauritius as the bridge for investments, not only in African countries, but Asian or even European ones. We can expect foreign FDI to rise, as Mauritius is second worldwide for inflow from foreign portfolio investors. Being out of the FATF grey list reinforces the position of Mauritius as a jurisdiction of substance; one which provides a business-friendly and investment-friendly ecosystem with robust legislations and an innovative range of products to the global business community.”

Click here to read the official communiqué.