As we begin the year 2020, the Financial Services Commission (“FSC”) issued a Handbook to provide guidance to financial institutions on the anti-money laundering, financing of terrorism and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction framework.

The Handbook which is almost a hundred-page long is a supplement to the Code on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. It is expected that the Code will be updated to reflect new laws and regulations but in the meantime, the Handbook provides enough clarity on the regulator’s expectations from its licensees. Although the Handbook does not aim to prescribe an exhaustive list of recommended AML/CFT practices, it shall assist financial institutions in shaping their systems of internal controls on areas such as the adoption of a risk based approach, customer due diligence measures, electronic identification and verification, monitoring of transactions whether automated or manually, screening and training of staff, to name a few. Although the guidance in the Handbook is not enforceable, the FSC will take it into account when assessing the level of compliance with the FIAMLA, FIAML Regulations 2018 and the Code while conducting its onsite visits.

The recent offsite monitoring exercise through surveys, onsite inspections and the issuance of the Handbook confirm the strong supervisory role which the regulator is taking to uphold the country’s reputation as a sound international financial centre. Financial institutions have no choice but to keep up with the ever changing regulatory framework to avoid being considered as conducting business that is not in the best economic interests or which damages the reputation of Mauritius and/or being considered as not being fit and proper.

Click here to download a copy of the handbook.