Alternate Directorship and Correspondence with the FSC Mauritius

Alternate Directorship

The FSC Mauritius has been receiving copies of statutory filings for the appointment of alternate directors of licensees whereby the prior approval of the Commission has not been sought for such appointment.

 

The FSC Mauritius wishes to highlight that as per the Financial Services Act 2007 (‘FSA 07’), a director is included in the definition of ‘Officer’ and as required under Section 24 (1) of the FSA 07, the approval of the FSC Mauritius should be sought prior to the appointment of an officer of a licensee.

 

The FSC Mauritius views the appointment of a person as alternate director as being the appointment of the latter as a director of the Company; and that person is equally and severally responsible for all board decisions and will be accountable to the Commission as a director.  Consequently, pursuant to Section 24 (2) of the FSA 07, any appointment made in contravention of Section 24 (1) shall be of no effect.

Correspondence with the FSC Mauritius

The FSC Mauritius receives a considerable amount of correspondence from its licensees in the normal course of business.  It has been noted that whilst all the correspondence are duly signed and includes the name of the signatory, a minority of them does not include the name of the signatory or the signature cannot be identified.

 

For prudential reasons and concerns regarding authenticity, such correspondence are either returned to the licensee or the latter is informed to re-submit the correspondence showing the name of the signatory.

In this respect, the FSC Mauritius hereby informs all its licensees that, as a matter of good practice and for proper identification purposes, all correspondence addressed to the FSC Mauritius must bear the full name of the signatory and the capacity in which he/she is acting.

 

Accordingly, licensees are requested to take relevant measures to ensure that only authorised persons sign correspondence to be addressed to the FSC Mauritius and that their names and capacity are clearly disclosed on the correspondence.  The FSC Mauritius may not act on a correspondence where the name and capacity of the signatory is not disclosed.