A workshop on Blockchain Analytics, aimed at sensitising captains of the financial services industry on virtual assets, Blockchain and investigatory tools, opened, this morning, at the Financial Services Commission (FSC) House in Ebène.
The FSC has engaged the services of the Mauritius Network Services Ltd (MNS), an authorised reseller of Chainalysis Services in Mauritius, to provide a Blockchain Analytics tool/software which will enhance the supervisory and enforcement capabilities of the Commission and ensure the sound and stable conduct of business activities of Virtual Asset Service Providers and Initial Token Offering Services, in or from Mauritius.
The Chief Executive of the FSC, Mr Dhanesswurnath Thakoor; the Chief Executive Officer of Mauritius Network Services Ltd, Mr Mahen Govinda; the Regional Director, Chainalysis, Ms Suzana Obradovic; the Director, Integrity Reporting Services Agency, Mr Paul Keyton; the Chief Executive Officer, Mauritius Finance, Mr Samade Jhummun; the Chief Executive Officer, Mauritius Bankers Association, Mr Daniel Essoo, as well as representatives of the Ministry and regulatory counterparts, and representatives of Chainalysis, were present.
In his address, Mr Thakoor highlighted that the overarching goal of the workshop is to enable relevant stakeholders to have the opportunity to interact with the experts from Chainalysis and exchange views on topics of relevance. The use of the Chainalysis tool is yet another milestone in upholding the reputation of the Mauritius international Financial Centre as a robust and credible jurisdiction prior to the upgrade of Mauritius to ‘Largely Compliant’ on Recommendation 15 (new technologies) of the Financial Action Task Force, he said.
According to him, the FSC’s collaboration with MNS has enabled the organisation to have access to a sophisticated tool for the monitoring of transactions, risk analysis, compliance and investigation purposes. The Chief Executive stated that Mauritius is now compliant with all the 40 FATF Recommendations, adding that the country was last month re-rated as largely compliant on Recommendation 15. He underlined that to this effect, Mauritius had implemented a number of measures and tools in order to track and identify unlicensed/ unregistered natural or legal persons carrying out Virtual Assets activities, and to apply appropriate sanctions accordingly.
He further pointed out that in line with the FATF Recommendation 15 and the “Updated Guidance for A Risk-Based Approach On Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers”, Mauritius has amongst other measures, acquired the Chainalysis Blockchain Tool to identify persons operating without a license and/or registration.
Mauritius, he said, is now equipped with the necessary tools and capacity to ensure that the Virtual Assets sector is supervised in a sustained manner.
According to him, it is important to demonstrate that the country is using this tool sustainably and that it will continue to take enforcement actions.
