The Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development has approved the promulgation of the Banking (Processing and Licence Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (the “Regulations"). This would allow the Bank of Mauritius (BOM) to consider the possibility of waiving the payment by financial institutions of licence fees, where:

• the Central Bank has, on account of an exceptional event i.e. an event of a systemic nature that is outside the reasonable control of a financial institution, authorised a temporary cessation of the operations of the financial institution or the closure of one or more of its branches for a period of more than three months; or
• the financial institution is able to demonstrate to the Central Bank that it has experienced a period of reduced business activities (i.e. a reduction of at least 25 per cent in annual turnover compared to the same period in the previous year) for more than three months due to an exceptional event.

Where the licence fees have already been paid by the financial institutions, these fees or part thereof will be refunded to them by the BOM.

The Banking (Processing and Licence Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 are deemed to have come into operation on 1 July 2021.