Authorised Company and the FSC: Role, Oversight and What to Expect

If you are looking into an Authorised Company with the FSC in Mauritius, the first thing to grasp is how the responsibilities are split. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) is the regulator that grants the authorisation and sets the conditions. It does not take instructions from owners, and owners do not file anything with it themselves. Between the two sits a Mauritian professional firm that holds a licence from the FSC itself.

This page explains what the FSC actually does for an Authorised Company, what the registered agent does on your behalf, what the regime costs at the current fee schedule, and what you can reasonably expect from the process. For the wider picture of the vehicle, start with the overview of the Authorised Company in Mauritius.

What the FSC is, in this context

An Authorised Company exists under section 71A of the Financial Services Act 2007 (Act 14 of 2007). The Global Business Corporation, a different vehicle with a different test, is governed by section 71 of the same Act. The FSC administers both, and the Income Tax Act treats a holder of either as a "global business entity".

For an Authorised Company, the FSC's role comes down to five functions:

• Authorising the company when it first applies.
• Setting the conditions it must meet to keep that status, including a ban on certain activities.
• Collecting fees under its Rules.
• Receiving a yearly financial summary from the company.
• Supervising the licensed firms that act as registered agents.

The fifth function matters most in practice. The FSC's day-to-day relationship is with the licensed provider, not with the owner.

Who has to apply for the authorisation

The Act sets a three-part profile. A company incorporated under the Companies Act must apply to the FSC for an authorisation as an Authorised Company when:

• the majority of its shares or voting rights is held or controlled by someone who is not a Mauritian citizen;
• it carries on its business mainly outside Mauritius; and
• its central management and control sit outside Mauritius.

The last point is the one that separates this vehicle from the Global Business Corporation, which must be managed and controlled from Mauritius. If you want to understand what "central management and control" means for a board that meets abroad, read managing an Authorised Company from abroad.

A company that operates as an Authorised Company without the authorisation commits an offence punishable by a fine of up to MUR 1,000,000. The same ceiling applies to a company that should hold a Global Business Licence and does not.

The step that surprises most owners: you cannot apply directly

An application for authorisation is filed through an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence), in the form and manner the FSC determines, with the information, documents and fees set by the FSC Rules. The authorisation itself is issued by the Chief Executive on behalf of the Commission.

In practice this means the provider collects your identification documents, prepares the file, pays the fees and submits it. The owner is never the filer of record.

What the registered agent does

An Authorised Company must have a registered agent in Mauritius at all times, and that agent must be an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence). Section 71A(8) of the Act lists what the agent is responsible for:

• filing the returns and documents required by the Financial Services Act, the Income Tax Act or the Companies Act;
• passing on communications between the company and the FSC, the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) and the Registrar of Companies;
• applying the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures;
• keeping the records, such as minutes, resolutions and transaction papers.

This is why the provider you pick is the single most consequential choice in the whole set-up. It is also why the Act gives it a statutory role rather than leaving it as a commercial service. For a deeper look at what these firms do day to day, see the provider behind your Authorised Company.

The provider is itself regulated

Under the anti-money laundering framework (FIAMLA), a company service provider is a regulated profession. The FIAMLA schedule names the Registrar of Companies as its regulatory body. Acting as a formation agent for a legal person, such as a company or a foundation, helping a third party to incorporate or register it, falls within the activities covered.

For you, the consequence is practical: expect the provider to ask for identity documents, proof of address, the source of funds and a clear description of the business. These requests come from the law, not from the provider's preference, and a provider that does not ask them deserves caution. Checking that a provider holds the right FSC licence takes a few minutes and is worth doing before you send any document.

What an Authorised Company cannot do

Unless the FSC Rules provide an exception, an Authorised Company may not carry on the activities listed in the Fourth Schedule to the Act. They fall into five categories:

1. banking;
2. managing or administering a collective investment fund or scheme as a professional;
3. financial services;
4. providing registered office, nominee, directorship or secretarial services to companies;
5. acting as a trustee as a professional.

An Authorised Company is also deemed to operate outside Mauritius even if it carries out certain transactions listed in section 73(1)(c) to (f) of the Act (section 71A(13)). The practical boundaries, including what that means for trading, hiring or holding local property, are covered in the limits of an Authorised Company.

Authorised Company or Global Business Corporation: where the FSC draws the line

The two vehicles are often confused because both are regulated by the same body and both sit under the "global business" label. The statutory differences are clear, however.

On the published fee schedule, the annual FSC fee for an Authorised Company is 1,200 USD lower than for a Global Business Corporation. The substance, management and licensing obligations are not comparable, though, and the choice depends on the activity and on where the owner lives. That decision belongs with a qualified adviser.

What the regime costs

The Financial Services (Consolidated Licensing and Fees) (Amendment) Rules 2026 (Government Notice No. 119 of 2026) were made by the FSC on 29 June 2026 and came into force on 1 July 2026. They replace the earlier fee schedule, including for the Global Business Licence and the Authorised Company.

For an Authorised Company (code FS-4.3, section 71A), the schedule provides:

• a processing fee of 600 USD;
• an annual fee of 1,400 USD, which excludes the annual registration fee of 65 USD (or another amount set by the Registrar of Companies) payable to the Registrar.

The first year is prorated

The first annual fee depends on the quarter in which the authorisation is granted:

Paying late costs more

If the 1,400 USD annual fee is paid late, it rises to 1,750 USD within the month after the due date, 2,100 USD between one and three months after, and 2,800 USD between three and six months after. A provider that tracks deadlines properly should make these figures irrelevant to you; it is one of the points to test when comparing providers, using the questions to put to a provider on the site.

For the 2026-27 renewal cycle, the FSC moved the payment deadline for annual fees to 30 September 2026. Payment is made through the FSC One platform, including by direct debit or from the deposit account of an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence). Owners rarely see this step because the provider handles it, but the fee is invoiced on to you, so the breakdown should be visible on the invoice. Our page on annual fees explains how to read it.

Why the fees changed

In its communiqué of 10 July 2026, the FSC said that processing fees had not changed since the 2008 rules and that annual fees had not been reviewed since 2019. It presented the reform as the implementation of a 2025/26 budget measure, and justified the adjustment for Authorised Companies by their higher inherent risk profile. Whatever one thinks of the reasoning, it signals that the FSC regards this vehicle as one needing active oversight, and owners should expect compliance requests to be taken seriously.

The provider's own fees

A provider acting as registered agent also pays the FSC a variable fee based on the number of Authorised Companies it serves at 31 December of the previous year: nothing for 1 to 50, 4,000 USD for 51 to 250, 5,000 USD for 251 to 500 and 6,000 USD above 500, with a further 5,000 USD where it provides corporate trusteeship services. Providers administering Global Business Corporations pay a separate scale. These are costs of the provider's licence, not charges to you as such, but they help explain how the market is structured.

What the FSC expects every year

The annual cycle for an owner is lighter than for a Global Business Corporation, but it is not empty:

• the annual FSC fee, paid on time;
• the Registrar's annual registration fee;
• a financial summary filed with the FSC no later than 6 months after the end of the financial year, in the form of the Ninth Schedule to the Companies Act (or other documents specified in the FSC Rules);
• the provider's continuing AML/CFT work, which usually means periodic requests for updated information from you.

The full list, with what falls on you and what falls on the provider, is in the annual obligations of an Authorised Company.

The application process and what to expect

Three procedural rules shape the experience.

A deadline for the FSC. Since 1 October 2024 (Act 11 of 2024), the FSC must grant an application within 10 working days of the date on which it is considered complete. The clock starts only when the file is complete, so the quality of the documents decides the real timeline. The same period applies to Global Business Licence and Authorised Company applications, except for those filed before 1 October 2024.

A deadline for you. Information requested by the FSC has to be supplied within 15 days. An application that does not meet the requirements of section 16 or the FSC guidelines, or for which the information required is not provided to the Commission's satisfaction, is deemed withdrawn (section 17A, in force since 1 October 2024). A slow reply therefore does not just delay the file; it can end it.

Incorporation is a separate step. The company is registered under the Companies Act by the Corporate and Business Registration Department. Its official guide indicates registration in half a day, and its Customer Charter mentions half an hour once the completed forms are lodged, with an exception for Global Business Companies, which need prior FSC approval. These are service standards for the registry, not a promise about the whole project, which also includes the FSC authorisation and the provider's due diligence. For realistic planning, see how to open an offshore company in Mauritius.

Changing provider

An owner is not tied to the first provider for good. Since 1 August 2024 (Act 11 of 2024), a change of registered agent for an Authorised Company must be accompanied by the fee set by the FSC Rules (section 71A(7)(b)). The same logic applies to a Global Business Licence holder appointing a new provider.

Because the registered agent holds the records and the filing history, a change is as much a handover exercise as a legal one. The guide to changing your provider walks through it.

Privacy and the FSC

The FSC authorises and supervises, but beneficial ownership information is held by a different body. The Registrar of Companies maintains a Beneficial Ownership Register, accessible to all competent authorities and to other prescribed public authorities. The Companies Act does not describe that register as public. For a fuller treatment, read whether the owner of an offshore company is private.

Tax: the FSC does not decide it

The FSC authorises the company; it does not determine its tax. Tax residence is a separate test under the Income Tax Act. Under section 73(1)(b), a company is resident in Mauritius for tax purposes if it is incorporated there or if its central management and control are there. That is one more reason the central management and control question is central to this regime. The standard corporate rate in Part IV of the First Schedule to the Income Tax Act is 15 % of chargeable income, subject to special regimes, and the Alternative Minimum Tax in section 44A does not apply to a global business entity. How that interacts with your own situation depends on facts a general page cannot assess, and the owner's tax position in the country of residence is a separate matter again.