Time to learn more about ‘Offshore’ |27 November 2019
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) in collaboration with the Seychelles International Financial Services Association (SIFSA) is currently hosting two educational sessions over two days on recent developments in the non-bank financial services sector at the KB Emporium at Providence.
Some 80 people attended the first session yesterday.
Paul Robert, the director of Policy and Legal, explained that these sessions are for educational purposes only as we know that there is not enough awareness on the non-bank financial services.
“When it comes to offshore, people do not really know what it entails. With the many misconceptions surrounding the ‘Off-shore’ business in Seychelles, we decided to organise these sessions in order to have a better understanding of the Seychelles international financial centre.”
People who are attending the sessions are mainly from the corporate service providers, the Ministry of Finance and the Seychelles Revenue Commission. “What we found out is that when we discuss about policies, many people are not clear about the sector. And when you do not understand something, you tend to not take correct decision. Offshore sector becomes the talk of the town when there are scandals,” noted Mr Robert.
Is our offshore sector clean? Replying to our question, Mr Robert said: “No business is clean. All businesses contain a risk. But in Seychelles we ask all centres to try to reduce the amount of risks. Most offshore businesses are clients that we do not see face to face and that increases the risk. Now it is about putting the right mechanisms in place to ensure that risk is mitigated as much as possible. Seychelles is not on the black list regarding the offshore but we are on the monitoring list of the European Union. In these two days, we hope to shed more light on what we the financial sector does and encourage more people to venture in this sector.”
The participants were able to know more about the international finance sector, the new tax environment for businesses and other topics regarding the offshore world.
Vidya Gappy
