Legislative changes since 2001 have chartered a new landscape for the financial services sector, including the Global Business Sector. The Companies Act, 2001 (inter alia) repealed the International Companies Act and the financial Services Development Act, 2001 repealed the Mauritius Offshore Business Activities Act with effect from 1st December 2001 and introduced the concept of “Qualified Global Business”. With the repeal of these two Acts neither Offshore Companies nor International Companies exist any longer, having been replaced by Category 1 Global Business Companies (GBC1) and Category 2 Global Business Companies (GBC2) respectively.
This change of terminology from “Offshore Companies” to Global Business Companies (GBCs) is not merely a cosmetic or semantic change. Rather, it represents a material part of the re-engineering process that the financial services sector in Mauritius has been through to help achieve certain mid-term objectives – including value addition and greater substance.
Over the previous years Mauritius has focused its global business on specific areas such as investment funds, investment holding and international trading. Substantial progress has been realised in terms of investment business operations established in Mauritius. The island is becoming an attractive jurisdiction for investment funds business, investment holding, asset management and other collective investment vehicles. Mauritius is enjoying international exposure as a domicile for emerging market funds and is being considered a gateway for investments in the Indian Ocean region and South-East Asia.
