Changing Your Offshore Company Management Provider

If you want to change corporate service provider in Mauritius, the first thing to understand is what actually moves. Your Authorised Company keeps its name, its shareholders, its constitution and its bank accounts. What changes is the licensed intermediary that acts as its registered agent and carries out its filings. Done in the right order, the switch is administrative and the business carries on.

This page covers the practical sequence for a transfer of an offshore company to another provider. If you are still choosing a provider for the first time, read the FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence) behind your Authorised Company instead; this page assumes you already have one and want to leave.

Why the provider cannot simply be dropped

An Authorised Company must have a registered agent in Mauritius at all times, and that registered agent must be an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence) (section 71A(7)(a) of the Financial Services Act 2007, "FSA"). There is no period in which the company is allowed to operate without one. That is why a change is a handover, never a termination followed by a search.

The registered agent is not a passive address. Under section 71A(8) FSA it is responsible, among other things, for:

• filing the returns and documents required by the FSA, the Income Tax Act or the Companies Act;
• passing on communications with the FSC, the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) and the Registrar of Companies;
• carrying out anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures;
• keeping the company's records, including minutes, resolutions and transaction documents.

A switch therefore transfers a bundle of duties, and the new provider has to be ready to take each of them over from a stated date. For the everyday meaning of the office address side, see registered office for an offshore company.

Reasons owners change provider

Common triggers are quality-related rather than legal: slow responses, filings handled late, unclear invoices, a provider that no longer serves your type of business, or a bank that is uncomfortable with the current provider's due diligence. A change of ownership of the company or a change in how you operate can also justify a fresh start.

Be careful with one reason in particular: a switch made only to avoid an overdue obligation does not erase the obligation. Outstanding fees, late filings or open compliance questions follow the company, and the new provider will ask about them during its own onboarding.

What stays the same and what changes

Treat the "usually" in this table seriously: your constitution, your bank's terms and your own agreement with the outgoing provider decide what applies in your case.

The change, step by step

1. Read the existing agreement first

Before contacting anyone new, read what you signed with the outgoing provider. Look for the notice period, any minimum term, what happens to prepaid fees, and who is obliged to hand over which records. Some agreements make the handover conditional on settling all invoices. Knowing this early avoids a dispute at the worst moment.

2. Shortlist and verify the new provider

Only an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence) can act as registered agent. Verify the licence yourself before signing; the steps are in how to check a service provider is licensed by the FSC. Then put your questions in writing, using questions to ask an offshore FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence) as a base. Because you are an existing client of another firm, ask specifically how the new provider handles a handover and what it needs from the outgoing one.

3. Complete onboarding with the new provider

Company service providers are reporting persons under the Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Act (FIAMLA). Each reporting person must identify, assess and understand its money-laundering, terrorist-financing and proliferation-financing risks, covering clients, geography, products, services, transactions and delivery channels, and set its mitigation measures accordingly. In practice, the new provider will treat you as a new client and ask for identification of the company and its beneficial owners, an explanation of the business, the source of funds, and evidence of the existing structure.

Expect this to take effort even though the company is not new. A provider that skips it is a warning sign, not a convenience.

4. Agree a handover date

Pick one date on which responsibility passes. Ask both providers to confirm in writing which of them is responsible before and after it. This matters for any filing that falls close to the date, and for the annual FSC fees: the cycle runs through the FSC One platform, and the payer, whether the provider's deposit account or direct debit, needs to be clear for the current cycle. For the 2026-27 renewal cycle the FSC extended the payment deadline to 30 September 2026, so confirm what has been paid and by whom.

5. File the change with the FSC

Since 1 August 2024 (Act 11 of 2024), the application to appoint a new registered agent for an Authorised Company must be accompanied by the fee set by the FSC Rules (section 71A(7)(b) FSA). The same rule applies to a Global Business Licence holder appointing a new FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence) under section 71(3)(aa). The new provider normally prepares and submits the application; ask it for the current fee amount from the FSC's published schedule rather than relying on an older figure.

6. Transfer the records and update the bank

The outgoing provider holds records that the company needs: minutes, resolutions, the share register, transaction documents and its filing history. Ask for a list of what will be sent and a confirmation of receipt. These records matter long after the switch. The Companies Act requires the share register to be kept for at least seven years after the relevant transaction, and the last directors of a company that ceases business keep beneficial ownership information for at least seven years.

Then deal with the bank. The aim is for the account to carry on without any pause in payments.

7. Check the first cycle of filings

Ask the new provider for the calendar of deadlines on your company, then compare it with the annual obligations of an Authorised Company and the yearly checklist. One deadline to confirm explicitly: an Authorised Company must file a financial summary with the FSC each year, no later than six months after the end of its financial year (section 71A(10) FSA).

Keeping the bank account running

Banks look at the company's relationship with its provider, but they do not close an account merely because the provider changes. What they want is continuity of information. A sensible sequence:

1. Tell the bank before the switch, not after, and ask which documents it needs.
2. Provide a short letter from the new provider confirming its licence and its role.
3. Keep the signatories and the beneficial owners unchanged during the switch, if you can; changing everything at once invites a full review.
4. Do not run the handover across a period when large payments are expected.
5. Keep the old provider's contact details on the account until the bank confirms the update.

If your bank already questions the structure, read why banks refuse offshore company accounts before you begin, so that the move does not coincide with a review you could have prepared for.

Directors, secretary and other changes made at the same time

Many owners use the moment of a switch to change other officers. If the new arrangement involves a different director or company secretary, remember the Companies Act rule that any appointment, resignation or change of particulars must be notified to the Registrar within 28 days (section 142). Failure is an offence for each director and for the secretary, punishable by a fine of up to Rs 200,000. Filings of this kind are made online through the CBRIS system, which licensed providers must use for their submissions and payments.

If someone abroad will sign on your behalf during the transition, a power of attorney for an offshore company can bridge the gap, but it does not replace the registered agent.

Checklist before you give notice

• Read the termination and handover clauses of the current agreement
• List outstanding invoices and annual fees, and who paid what for the current cycle
• Verify the new provider's FSC licence on the official register
• Send the new provider your written questions and compare the answers
• Gather identification documents for the company and its beneficial owners
• Agree one handover date in writing with both providers
• Ask the new provider for the current FSC fee for the change
• Obtain a list of the records the outgoing provider will transfer
• Inform the bank and prepare the confirmation letter
• Check for any filing that falls within a few weeks of the handover

Mistakes that cause trouble

• Leaving before the new provider is confirmed. The company needs a registered agent at all times; the new appointment must be in place when the old one ends.
• Ignoring unpaid fees. They can delay the handover and complicate the FSC application.
• Accepting incomplete records. A missing minute or register entry is far harder to reconstruct a year later.
• Telling the bank last. An account manager who learns of the change from a third party asks more questions.
• Assuming the new provider checked everything. Ask for its calendar and verify it against your own.

If a company has been struck off in the course of a poorly managed exit, see restoring a struck-off offshore company.

What a change does not do

A new provider does not alter the legal nature of the company. An Authorised Company must keep its central management and control outside Mauritius and cannot carry on the activities listed in the Fourth Schedule of the FSA, such as banking, financial services or professional trusteeship, unless the FSC Rules allow an exception. If you want to move from an Authorised Company to a different type of licence, that is a separate decision, discussed in when an Authorised Company is no longer enough. Whether any change suits your situation depends on facts a general page cannot assess, and a qualified adviser should review it.

You can describe your situation through the contact form and have it relayed to an FSC-licensed provider.