The FSA Seychelles meets other stakeholders and regulatory authority   |29 October 2021

Exchange of gifts

Senior management staff of the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA), headed by chief executive Damien Thesée, yesterday met the CEO of Cresco, Michael Waechter.

Cresco, which is a group of several companies, includes Hensley & Cook, a corporate service provider and fund administrator with one of their offices located in Seychelles.

Also present at the meeting was the managing director of Hensley & Cook, Alexander Chang Sam.

The delegation discussed constraints and challenges being faced and several proposals were put forward for consideration.

Mr Waechter stated that Seychelles has the right climate for businesses and that companies have a high interest in setting up and operating in a well regulated environment.

Mr Thésée stated that a priority focus moving forward is to develop the Capital Market sector.

In the afternoon, the Authority also met with the senior management from the Securities & Commodities Authority (SCA), the regulator for companies operating in the securities sector. In attendance were the CEO, Maryam Buti Al Suwaidi; Khalid Al Zaabi, executive director of Licensing, Supervision and Compliance Operations; Dr Yousef Al Tal, senior legal specialist; Abdulrahman Hussamuddin Sharaf, Confronting Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing section head; and Mohamed Marzouq Al Ali, head of listed Companies and Funds Supervision Section.

Mr Thésée stated in his opening remarks that the FSA is conducting such visits to establish partnership and areas of cooperation between other regulators.

Dr Al Suwaidi mentioned that capacity building remained a challenge, which is a constraint for both authorities.

She also advised that taking a gradual approach towards the automisation of processes will improve the delivery of services.

She added that building a strong regulatory framework is a priority for SCA and that also emphasised on the importance of good governance.

The authorities also agreed that while supervision remains a challenge, the need to remain proactive and uphold compliance remains crucial to protect consumers as well as the reputation of both jurisdictions.

Other topics of discussion were risk-based approaches being undertaken, AML-CFT, international requirements, compliance and awareness programmes.

On Tuesday October 26, 2021, the FSA met with representatives of the Jebel Ali Free Zone and the Dubai Multi Commodities Commission (DMCC).

The Jebel Ali Free Zone is one of the largest free zones in the world, with over 8600 companies operating in the free zone.

The team gained insight on how the zone operates and the incentives being offered within the zone.

Ebtesam Alkaabi explained that it is the use of digitilisation of processes, as well as offering 24 hour services, that enables them to provide a faster service to the operators and therein facilitate the ease of doing business.

Press release from the FSA