Luxury Indian Ocean No1 Édition 2014 | Page 35

Doing business in Mauritius légaux et fiscaux sont très séduisants ; Maurice figure au premier rang au palmarès mondial du Tax Friendly et comme je l’ai dit précédemment, l’aspect sécurité est un facteur important pour les investisseurs. Tim Taylor comes from an old Anglo-Mauritian family and has a warm and friendly nature, which belies the idea that the world of global finance is a cold place. The Chairman of the Cim Group, a major player in the financial sector in Mauritius, describes with considerable optimism what he sees as a promising future for both his company and his island home. CIM activities centre around three main sectors―finance, global business and real estate. Could you give us some details on each of them? For the moment, our involvement in real estate is minimal and our main activities are 60% finance and 35% global business. Concerning finance, our clients are the “ti dimoun” ―ordinary people who fear and are feared by the banks. We finance their spending on consumer items and the services that go with them. We currently have 270,000 contracts and 180,000 customers. We also issue credit cards, deal in leasing for cars and industrial machines, and factoring, that is to say the financing of receivables. creates opportunities in other sectors such as infrastructure, transport, airports and commercial centres. New investment is needed to finance this development and Mauritius is a natural gateway to Africa! What makes Mauritius attractive? All back-office and administrative services are much cheaper here and fiscal policy is favourable. “Tax is a cost.” In the Global Sector, the effective rate of tax is 3%. Because of our political stability, another great advantage we can offer is security, which is essential for investment. So can we call Mauritius a “success story”? Not yet. It’s “work in progress”. But our expertise is wellestablished and the legal and fiscal advantages we offer are very attractive. Mauritius is in the forefront of taxfriendly countries around the world and, as I said before, security is a major factor for investors. How is your global business going? Mauritius has signed about fourty double taxation avoidance agreements (DTAA) and CIM manages investment funds which have chosen to domicile themselves here. This is an activity which has grown considerably during the past twenty years. You only have to look at the impressive complex of office buildings in Ebene, which has grown from nothing ten years ago and today employs 15,000 people! A major source of these funds is American and European pension funds investing in India (60%), in China and now in Africa, through companies set up in Mauritius. Our role is to provide them with efficient and reliable administrative services. Administrative management, board meetings and accounting are carried on here. Do the laws of Mauritius offer benefits to investors? Yes, Mauritius has developed its trust laws and today high net-worth individuals can create a trust or a fund into which they can transfer some of their assets. Such structures can be used for the better management of inheritance tax. They are also used by expatriates. For smaller investors, there are also retail funds, which are equally efficient collective investment vehicles. How do you see the future of Cim? We believe Mauritius has a future as a regional financial centre and see ourselves as an important player in it. Our aim is to extend our activities beyond our shores. In addition, we hope to develop outsourcing in the financial sector. The international scene is therefore doubly exciting for our main activities. Is Mauritius really a gateway to Africa? Minerals and raw materials are Africa’s trump cards ―they attract big investors and their development Luxury Mauritius 35