Payment Intermediary ServicesMauritius

In a nutshell, Payment intermediary services (PIS) licence holders are entities that operate as payment gateways that allow e-Commerce businesses to accept different types of payments online.

In most cases, the PIS performs many operations which includes the authentication of payment information, transfers between parties involved, fraud and risk management and conversion facilities amongst others. One of the most popular PIS is Paypal.

Important features considered by the FSC when assessing a PIS application
  • Due diligence documents on all controlling persons and officers. Controlling persons are natural persons who exercise control over the management of the business.
  • Applicant should submit evidence of the source of capital/fund to be contributed to the company (whether proprietary, non-proprietary or others).

The activity should be clearly defined in a business plan to include:

  • Introduction and background;
  • Business objective, strategy and proposed activity;
  • Organisation chart;
  • Target market and client(s) profile;
  • Mode(s) of financing;
  • Three year Financial Forecasts; and
  • Any other relevant information which would be deemed necessary for a successful application process.
  • Experience and qualifications of the management team
  • Internal control and compliance manual detailing measures in place to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
  • Operations manual detailing all procedures in place.
  • Copy of contracts/agreements between the parties/functionaries.
  • Complaint handling procedure

Details of arrangements to ensure confidentiality, security and reliability of clients information.

Blue Azurite offers assistance and guidance with available procedure manuals that can be amended to suit your business operation.

What are the steps involved during the application process?
  1. We start your application process by determining the type of corporation that needs to be established to hold the PIS licence. We also collect the due diligence documents during that stage.
  2. We work alongside the legal and tax advisors during the drafting of all constitutive documents and operating agreements. These documents are then reviewed by the lawyer who issues the relevant legal certificates, confirming that the constitution, agreements and manuals have been drafted in accordance with the laws of Mauritius.
  3. All information are collated, application forms completed and submitted to the authorities. We liaise with the bank for a pre-approval to open the bank account.
  4. We follow up with the authorities, attending to queries(if any), until the entity is incorporated and licence issued.

It takes between 4 and 6 weeks from the time all due diligence documents are received for the entity to be incorporated and licence issueed. This includes the 2-4 weeks taken by the FSC to assess the application.

Looking at seting up A PIS in Mauritius?

We wish to thank Blue Azurite for the strong support they have provided during our application process.

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