How to Check a Service Provider Is Licensed by the FSC

If you want to verify an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence) before engaging it, the question is narrower than it sounds. Mauritius does not ask you to trust a brand or a website. It asks whether the entity in front of you holds a Management Licence granted by the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the licence the law labels an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence). That is a fact you can check, and you should check it before any money moves.

This page is the verification routine itself: where to look, what to compare, and what to keep on file. It does not cover warning signs of fraud, which are in offshore company scams and red flags, nor the commercial questions to put to a provider, which are in the questions to ask an offshore FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence).

Why the licence check matters for an Authorised Company

For an Authorised Company, the licence is not a courtesy. The Financial Services Act (FSA) builds the structure around it:

• The company must have, at all times, a registered agent in Mauritius, and that agent must be an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence) (section 71A(7)(a)).
• The application for authorisation is filed through such a provider, in the form and manner the FSC determines (section 71A(2)-(3)).
• The registered agent handles filings under the FSA, the Income Tax Act and the Companies Act, passes on communications with the FSC, the Mauritius Revenue Authority and the Registrar, carries out anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures, and keeps the company records (section 71A(8)).

If the entity is not licensed, it cannot lawfully fill that role. A company that operates as an Authorised Company without authorisation commits an offence punishable by a fine of up to MUR 1,000,000 (sections 71(5) and 71A(12)). For more on the body that grants the authorisation, see the Authorised Company and the FSC.

The verification sequence

1. Collect the identity details

Ask the provider for three items, by message rather than by phone, so that you have a written trail:

• the exact legal name of the licensed entity (not a trading name or a brand);
• its FSC licence number;
• its registered office address in Mauritius.

A legitimate provider supplies these without hesitation. Be careful with the difference between a brand and the licensed legal entity: a website may use a trading name while the licence belongs to a separate company. The contract must be with the licensed entity.

2. Match them against the FSC records

Go to the FSC website yourself, typing the address into your browser rather than following a link sent by the provider, and use the Commission's published list of licence holders. Search by the legal name and by the licence number, then compare:

• the name on the list with the name on the proposal and the invoice;
• the licence number with the one you were given;
• the status of the licence (active, suspended, revoked or lapsed).

If the entity does not appear, or appears under a different name or number, stop and ask for an explanation in writing. Do not accept a screenshot or a PDF "certificate" as a substitute for the official record: a document supplied by the provider proves only that the provider can produce a document.

3. Confirm the licence type

The FSC grants several kinds of licence, and only one of them is the Management Licence. A provider can be licensed for investment advice, fund administration or another regulated activity and still not be allowed to act as registered agent for an Authorised Company.

The distinction also matters for the structure you want. Under the FSA:

In both cases the same licence sits at the centre. If a provider says it is "authorised" without naming the licence, ask which licence it means.

4. Check the people behind the entity

A licence belongs to a legal entity, but a legal entity is run by individuals. Compare the names of the directors and officers in the engagement letter, on the provider's website and in the public company record held by the Registrar of Companies. Differences are not automatically a problem, since boards change, but an unexplained gap deserves a written answer.

Two further points are worth noting:

• The corporate service provider is itself a regulated profession for anti-money laundering purposes under the Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Act (FIAMLA), which includes acting as a formation agent for a legal person. Expect to be asked for identity and source-of-funds documents. A provider that never asks is not behaving like a regulated one.
• Every Mauritian company must identify and record its beneficial owner and any nominee in a separate register (Companies Act 2001, section 91(3A)). The Registrar keeps a Beneficial Ownership Register accessible to competent authorities. The Act does not describe it as public. See whether the owner of an offshore company is private for the detail.

5. Read the contract against the law

Once the licence is confirmed, the contract should be consistent with it. Check that it:

• names the licensed entity, with its licence number;
• states that the provider acts as registered agent and describes the duties listed in section 71A(8);
• explains who holds the company records and where;
• sets out the fee structure and what is billed separately;
• states how you can end the relationship, and what happens to the records and the registered office if you do.

Fees to the regulator are a separate question from fees to the provider. The FSC fee schedule in force since 1 July 2026 (Government Notice No. 119 of 2026) sets the regulator's charges, and your provider's invoice will normally pass them on. Ask for them to be itemised, and for the provider's own charge to be shown separately. If you later want to move to another provider, the process is described in changing your management provider.

6. File the evidence

Save, with the date, a copy of the FSC record you consulted, the signed engagement letter, and the identity documents you supplied. If the position ever changes, you will be able to show what you checked and when.

Verification checklist

• Obtained the exact legal name, licence number and Mauritian address in writing
• Typed the FSC address into my own browser rather than using a link supplied by the provider
• Found the entity in the FSC's list of licence holders
• Name and licence number on the record match the proposal and invoice
• The licence is a Management Licence and its status is active
• Directors and officers match the public record, or differences are explained in writing
• The contract is with the licensed entity, not a trading name
• The contract describes the registered agent role and who keeps the records
• Regulatory fees and the provider's own fees are itemised separately
• The exit terms and record handover are written down
• Dated copies of all checks are filed

When the answer is not clear

Some situations need more than a lookup:

• The provider is part of a group. The licence may belong to one company in the group while another invoices you. Ask in writing which entity is licensed and which entity is your counterparty.
• A reseller or introducer is involved. An introducer is not a licensed provider. Under the FSA, the application for authorisation is filed through the licensed provider, so ask who will actually file and act as registered agent.
• The entity holds a licence from the FSC but not a Management Licence. Its licence may be genuine and still irrelevant to what you need.
• You are unsure the search is current. Ask the provider to explain any difference, and if doubts remain, use the contact form to ask the licensed partner behind this site for an independent view.

A sound result at this stage is a good start, not a guarantee of future service. The licence confirms the entity may do the work; whether it does it well is a separate judgement, helped by the guide to the FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence) behind your Authorised Company and the requirements for an Authorised Company.

What this check does not tell you

A licence check answers one question: is this entity allowed to act? It does not tell you whether the price is fair, whether the service is responsive, or whether the structure suits your circumstances. It also does not replace advice. Whether an Authorised Company fits your situation depends on your residence, your activity and your home-country tax rules, which is a matter for a qualified adviser. If you are ready to proceed, how to open an offshore company in Mauritius sets out the process once the provider is confirmed.