Company Setup in Mauritius and Corporate Bank Accounts
Company setup in Mauritius is one of the few things we do from our own office on the island. We help groups choose the right license, build the substance it requires, and open the Mauritian bank account every global business company now needs.
About Mauritius as a base for Africa and Asia
Mauritius is a small island state in the Indian Ocean with a large role in cross-border investment. Its English and French legal traditions, stable politics and wide network of tax treaties, many of them with African countries, have made it the usual holding and treasury base for groups investing into Africa and India.
The jurisdiction has spent the last five years rebuilding its standing. It left the FATF gray list in October 2021, and the European Union removed it from its high-risk list in early 2022. The next test is the joint FATF and ESAAMLG mutual evaluation due in 2027, and the government has been tightening beneficial ownership rules and AML supervision ahead of it.
The result is a jurisdiction that rewards real activity. The tax advantages that remain are tied to substance on the island, and the Financial Services Commission now expects to see that substance in how companies are run and how their bank accounts operate.
Corporate tax in Mauritius
15% standard rate, with an 80% partial exemption on certain foreign income for companies that meet substance conditions.
Fair Share Contribution
A temporary levy on large domestic companies with profits above MUR 24 million. Global business companies are outside it.
Treaties and protection
A wide network of tax treaties and investment protection agreements, many of them with African countries.
Mauritian rupee and currency
The rupee floats freely, and global business companies usually trade and hold their accounts in dollars or euros.
Company setup in Mauritius: choosing the license
Company setup in Mauritius starts with one question: will the company do business mainly in Mauritius, or mainly outside it? The answer decides which regulator licenses it and what substance it must keep.
Global Business Company
Licensed by the Financial Services Commission for business outside Mauritius, run through a licensed management company.
Authorised Company
Managed and controlled outside Mauritius, with a registered agent on the island and no tax residence there.
Domestic company
Registered with the Corporate and Business Registration Department to trade within Mauritius itself.
A Global Business Company suits most of our clients, and it comes with real obligations. The Commission expects resident directors who exercise independent judgment, accounting records kept on the island, audited accounts prepared in Mauritius, and a principal bank account held in Mauritius.
We arrange formation through Company Formation and Market Entry, and when the Mauritian company will hold investments in Africa, India or the Gulf, Holding Companies and SPVs covers how the structure should be built.
Bank account opening in Mauritius
For a Global Business Company, a Mauritian bank account is not optional. It is part of the substance the Financial Services Commission expects, and since June 2026 it comes with a new rule on who must be able to sign.
Mauritian banks are thorough with global business clients, and the new signatory rule means the management company now sits inside every payment, not just the annual review. We prepare the file to the standard both the bank and the management company will expect, and agree the signatory arrangements before the application goes in. Acceptance remains the bank’s decision. Our job is to give it a complete and consistent file.
Corporate Banking and Account Opening Support covers the application, and Bank Relationship Management keeps documents and signatories current as the rules develop.
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01
A management company signatory
Since 19 June 2026, at least one signatory on every GBC account must be an approved officer of its management company.
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02
Full beneficial ownership
Every beneficial owner identified and verified, with the file prepared to the standard the management company will also hold.
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03
A business outside Mauritius
Clear evidence of where the company trades or invests, and why its money passes through Mauritius.
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04
Consistent source of funds
Where the opening capital came from, and how the expected flows match the activity on the license.
Company setup in Mauritius: common questions
A company licensed by the Financial Services Commission to carry on business mainly outside Mauritius. It must be administered by a licensed management company and keep real substance on the island.
It can be, where the business genuinely operates from Mauritius or uses its treaties. A company formed only for tax reasons, with no real activity, will struggle with both the regulator and the banks.
No. Mauritius left the FATF gray list in October 2021 and was removed from the EU high-risk list in 2022. Its next mutual evaluation, by the FATF and ESAAMLG, is due in 2027.