Finance
Having been a forerunner in the industry
since 1992, Cim Global Business serves a
broad international client base including
Fortune 500 companies, Development
Finance Institutions, leading fund
managers, institutional investors and high
net-worth individuals. Having a dominant
market position in Mauritius with assets
administered in excess of USD150bn, we
provide a full range of solutions from
administrative to accounting and tax
services.
Much like our national economy, our
financial services sector has reached a major
crossroad. There is general consensus that
although our global business sector model
has been extremely successful in generating
revenue and employment over nearly a
quarter of a century, primarily as a result
of efficiently facilitating foreign direct
investment flows into India, significant
rethinking is required to meet emerging
global demands. Mauritius needs to
consider how best to tackle the increasing
challenges facing all international financial
centres, and has much to gain from
strengthening its commitment to other
African countries as partners for mutual
benefit.
According to EY’s Africa attractiveness
survey 2014, “The African growth story is a
compelling one, and it should be attracting
even greater numbers of FDI projects.”
In less than five years, the continent has
risen from eighth position to being rated
as the joint second most desirable regional
investment destination in the world, tied
with Asia. Resources remain key, but
infrastructure and consumer-facing sectors
are catching up fast. Additionally, IMF
forecasts show that six of the ten highest
growing economies between 2012 and 2017
will be African economies.
At this point, it would be relevant to ask
how the Mauritius financial services sector
fits into the picture. Our country took an
important step forward in 1992 with the
establishment of a Global Business sector
to extend the market infrastructure beyond
banking and insurance. The sector has since
come a long way, garnering worldwide
recognition over the past 23 years for
our fund administration, corporate
administration and secretarial services,
trustee and other fiduciary services, among
others. However, we have now reached
our crossroad which calls for additional
capacity building to expand, diversify and
LUXURY MAURITIUS
compete in the increasingly complex global
financial services industry.
Some of the fundamentals are already
there. The multi-currency Mauritius Stock
Exchange has been well developed since
1989 and is a leading listing centre in
Africa as well as a member of the World
Federation of Exchanges. Recent Budget
announcements such as the introduction
of a special Financial Sector Incentive
and Mauritius is no exception. It will, of
course, require a bold and brave approach
and significant investment of time and
energy to put in place the new building
blocks to ensure we become a prominent
investment centre for Africa, offering high
value-added financial services such as
asset management, corporate finance and
capital raising transactions. Attracting
internationally renowned firms from these
sectors to establish a presence in Mauritius
“MAURITIUS CERTAINLY NEEDS TO ADD
SOME EXTRA LAYERS IN ORDER TO POSITION
ITSELF AS A CAPABLE CAPITAL MARKET FOR
AFRICA.”
Scheme to attract international Asset and
Fund Managers to relocate their front-office
operations in Mauritius, the reactivation of
the Financial Services Promotion Agency
and the setting up of a Financial Services
Institute also provide encouraging signals.
Mainland Africa remains a challenging
place to do business. Our hybrid legal
system based on UK and French law,
with the UK’s Privy Council as the final
court of appeal and an International
Arbitration Centre for dispute resolution
however positions us as a preferred
offshore international financial centre for
new market entrants to domicile their
operations. We also enjoy the respect, trust
and confidence of our African counterparts.
We at Cim Global Business already have the
capability of structuring and administering
regional headquarters based in Mauritius
for client activities in Africa and the region.
We also provide outsourcing solutions to
service providers and entities domiciled
in other jurisdictions by leveraging the
strength of our diversified financial
services group as well as our cost-effective
administration capabilities and technology
platform.
Mauritius needs to add some extra layers
in order to position itself as a capable
capital market to enable Africa to meet
its investment needs while expanding
the breadth and depth of our financial
services sector beyond its current capacity.
Successful international jurisdictions
adapt to prosper and compete effectively,
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would be a positive step in the right
direction.
Mauritius has taken a quantum leap
forward in meeting the financial needs of
sophisticated international clients. We now
need to reinvent our proposition in order to
chart the best course to access the untapped
potential Africa has to offer.
33, Edith Cavell Street,
Port Louis, Mauritius
T+230 212 9800
[email protected]
www.cimglobalbusiness.com