Mauritius Financial Services Commission sets out Family Office Licence scheme with fees and capital requirements for single and multiple family offices

The Mauritius Financial Services Commission has published an overview of Mauritius’s Family Office Licence scheme, which provides for the licensing of high-net-worth single-family and multi-family offices through a Family Office (Single) licence and a Family Office (Multiple) licence. The note describes family offices as private entities that exclusively manage the financial and personal affairs of blood-related family members and states that the scheme enables families to hold international assets and funds. Family offices are licensed and regulated under Part IV of the Financial Services Act 2007, and no person may carry out family office services without a licence issued by the regulator. The overview sets processing and annual fees at USD 2,500 and USD 5,000 for the single-family licence (F.S 1.15) and USD 5,000 and USD 10,000 for the multi-family licence (F.S 1.16), with minimum stated unimpaired capital of USD 35,000 (single) and USD 75,000 (multiple). It references the Financial Services (Family Office) Rules 2020 (consolidated in 2021 and 2022) as setting initial requirements from 7 March 2020, and notes that applicants must follow the Financial Services (Consolidated Licensing and Fees) Rules 2008 and have relevant experience in wealth management, private banking, or investment management. The key requirements highlighted include client asset segregation, a risk management framework, professional indemnity cover, an annual compliance statement, at least two full-time officers, a designated officer, and mandatory Money Laundering Reporting Officer and Deputy MLRO roles, alongside minimum local presence expectations (including office premises in Mauritius), a minimum aggregate of USD 5 million of assets and/or investments under management, and a tax holiday period of 10 income years from the licence date for both licence types.