Africa-Press – Mauritius. Our Government is keenly promoting the Mauritius International Financial Centre as a reinsurance hub as we believe that we have all the ingredients for success”.
This statement was made by the Minister of Financial Services and Good Governance, Mr Mahen Kumar Seeruttun, yesterday, at the Mont Choisy Heritage Zone.
He was participating in the second anniversary of Africa Specialty Risks Mauritius (ASR), in the presence of the British High Commissioner to Mauritius, Ms Charlotte Pierre, and the Chief Executive Officer of ASR, Mr Mikir Shah.
Minister Seeruttun recalled that it had been two years since the launch of ASR as a fully capitalised and licensed reinsurance entity in Mauritius, designed to meet the needs of the African continent.
“The achievements made by the entity commend the strategic decision to expand the business to this part of the world,” he pointed out.
Furthermore, Mr Seeruttun highlighted that the Reinsurer and the Insurance Manager Licence granted by the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius had been instrumental to their vision and was greatly benefiting Mauritius and the region.
“I am glad to note that to date, ASR has helped to de-risk US 11.4 billion of investments into Africa and has written business in 47 countries, proving the strong potential for Mauritius as a reinsurance hub for the continent,” he underlined.
The Minister stressed that the choice of Mauritius as a well-established hub for financial services and investments in Africa was the most logical destination to serve ASR’s purpose.
On this note, he dwelt on some of the ingredients for success that were being promoted to make the Mauritius International Financial Centre as a reinsurance hub.
These are: an established insurer presence in Africa; a safe, sound, and trusted jurisdiction with a robust legal framework; a stable operating environment supported by policy certainty and regulatory safeguards; Mauritius is part of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) set up to boost intra-Africa trade and investment; and ease of doing business.
In addition, Minister Seeruttun underscored that there was enormous potential for the reinsurance industry to pursue meaningful work in narrowing the region’s growing protection gap.
“Mauritius is well positioned to continue to play a decisive and impactful role as investments from Mauritius into Africa represent 9% of overall foreign investment into the Continent,” he added.
On this score, Mr Seeruttun emphasised that Mauritius represented a strong regional development partner and Government was leaving no stone unturned in the engagement of Serving Africa Well.
“We see Mauritius rising as an important specialty insurance hub for Africa with global companies set up within our IFC space offering capabilities in newer lines of risk, such as cyber risk,” he said.
As regards ASR, the Minister indicated that Mauritius expected such businesses to create meaningful solutions for the region as the insurance ecosystem continued to be developed and to be the launchpad for businesses in the region.
“I am confident that ASR in Mauritius can significantly contribute to our endeavours in making our IFC take on a bigger role as a reinsurance hub and I am pleased to see that our compatriots are being increasingly invited to join the ASR operations,” he stated.
“ASR,” the Minister underscored, “place much emphasis on capacity building and in the area in which they operate, more sharing of knowledge and experience to develop the skills of our people can be promoted.
” “We have a dedicated facility under the aegis of my Ministry which looks at training and I hope to see collaboration develop in this area,” Mr Seeruttun pointed out.
Minister Seeruttun also spoke of the support and committed efforts of the British High Commission in Mauritius to facilitate the setting up of United Kingdom (UK) based companies in Mauritius.
“The UK is a mature centre for international insurance and reinsurance business and Mauritius has so much to learn from UK-established businesses,” he stressed.
On this score, he dwelt on the UK-Mauritius Strategic Trade Partnership signed last week in a bid to help consolidate the strong trade partnership ties between the two countries to boost priority areas, including financial services.
Mr Seeruttun further indicated that the Government looked forward to even stronger collaboration with ASR as partners in shaping a better African Region.
“I am confident that ASR will go from strength to strength rising above any challenge by remaining as adaptive and relevant as ever to serve the demands of a dynamic industry and region,” the Minister pointed out.
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