“Mauritius is well on track and pursuing its objective of being recognised as the Sustainable Finance Gateway into Africa.”
This statement was made by the Minister of Financial Services and Good Governance, Mr Mahen Kumar Seeruttun, on October 26, at Maison Euréka in Moka, at the ceremony held to mark the 15th Anniversary of Axis Fiduciary Ltd. The Chief Executive of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), Mr Dhanesswurnath Thakoor; the top Management of Axis Fiduciary Ltd; and other personalities were present at the event.
In his keynote speech, the Financial Services Minister thus elaborated upon measures being implemented in positioning Mauritius as an attractive jurisdiction for sustainable finance. He mentioned that the Stock Exchange of Mauritius marked the listing of its first Green bond on its platform on 25 October 2023.
The Minister recalled too the publication by the Bank of Mauritius (BoM) and the FSC of the ‘Guide for the Issue of Sustainable Bonds in Mauritius’, and the ‘Guidelines on the issue of Corporate and Green bonds in Mauritius’, respectively. “Both the BoM and FSC Guides demonstrate the jurisdiction’s commitment to best international practice with references to the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles,” he said.
According to Mr Seeruttun, the Ministry was currently in the process of designing an environmental, social and governance (ESG) Framework for ESG disclosures and ESG Risk Management with the aim of satisfying, amongst others, the ESG performance across key environmental and social metrics; ESG compliance; and ESG disclosures (data, reporting). He spoke moreover of the new imperatives of the Ministry in giving the comfort to investors that funds channelled through Mauritius would come with sustainability credentials.
The Minister also called for the Government and the private sector to pursue their coordinated efforts to enhance the resilience and sustainability of the economy. While commending Axis Fiduciary Ltd for being a trustful company playing an important role in the financial services sector, Mr Seeruttun expressed the wish that the company would pursue strategies to deepen roots in the country and continue to be an employer of choice providing job opportunities and decent livelihoods to the citizens of Mauritius.
For his part, the Chief Executive of the FSC expatiated on the relationship between the regulator and regulatees. “The regulator’s missions, objectives and purposes, spelt out in the Act setting up the regulatory body, are there to ensure that a conducive market is set up and that the players are abiding by the rules, and by extension, consumers in the market are protected,” he stated.
Mr Dhanesswurnath Thakoor was of the view that it was the duty of a regulator to recognise the efforts and encourage regulatees regarding compliance and regulations. He added that the regulator/regulatee interactions in a non-formal way were a necessity in the compliance journey of any entity. “We need to knit with each other, with each regulatee, so as to create a dialogue, an exchange as well as interactions that help drive forward the agenda of the Mauritius International Financial Centre,” he stressed.
SOURCE: GIS
