Strategically located in the Indian Ocean at the crossroad of international investments, Mauritius has throughout the last decade forged a strong reputation as a premier international financial centre. Although the initial thrust of the business arose through the use by foreign institutional investors using Mauritius as a base to invest in India taking advantage of the generous provisions of the India-Mauritius Double Taxation Treaty, the other attributes of the jurisdiction namely the legislative and regulatory framework, low taxation, innovative financial products and competitive cost base resulted into other forms of business being attracted to the jurisdiction.
The trust industry kicked off through banks (Standard Bank and Deutsche Bank) which operated large trust operations in the Channel Islands, looking at Mauritius as an ideal base to outsource some of their back office trust administration to Mauritius, and gradually offering full fledged trust services from Mauritius, taking benefit of a very good trust legislation comparable to that of the more mature trust centers. Thereafter, other service providers followed heed and the government through its promotion agency, the Financial Services Promotion Agency, started to promote Mauritius as a competitive Trust jurisdiction. The growing number of members of the local branch of the Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners (STEP) is a vivid testimony of the mounting interest in Trusts in Mauritius.
STEP Mauritius is committed to the growth of the trust industry in Mauritius and recognizes that this can only be achieved through the development of its human resources capabilities which are the backbone of any successful service industry. STEP Mauritius would like to work in tandem with STEP and Central Law Training (CLT) to pursue this objective and is looking ahead to a partnership which will be beneficial to the trust industry and by necessary implication to the association as a whole.
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