President Faure congratulates FSA for contributions to the economy |27 May 2020

President Danny Faure has congratulated Financial Services Authority staff for the hard work they and the company have been doing for the country’s economy especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Faure visited the Financial Services Authority (FSA) headquarters at Sunshine House, Providence yesterday afternoon and he was greeted on arrival by FSA board chairman Suketu Patel and the authority’s chief executive, Dr Steve Fanny. Several other employees were also present for a meeting.

Speaking to the press after meeting with the president, Dr Fanny noted that the FSA is injecting foreign exchange worth R25 million as dividend into the economy to support the government’s economic and development strategies in the post-coronavirus pandemic.

“Despite some constraints during the time of restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry was effectively very active and to contribute R25 million in foreign exchange in this short period of time, from January to March, is a great achievement,” Dr Fanny said.

Dr Fanny noted that they took this opportunity to also talk to the president about the challenges they are facing in terms of the financial sector.

“We had made a R100 million prediction for the end-of-year dividend but due to the virus outbreak that sum will have to be revised,” said Dr Fanny.

The CEO remarked that Seychelles must follow the same example as other small island nations who have made financial sectors one of the main pillars of their economy as they have not been financially affected by the COVID-19 virus even though there is a lack of tourists.

During the meeting, Dr Fanny stated that the president assured them that the government will give the financial sector any help it needs in order to bring it forward.

“The president is aware of the risks but he has also assured that the FSA will be included in future legislation,” said Dr Fanny.

He noted that though the sector is considered risky like many other business sectors, much effort should be put together collectively to see how to minimise and mitigate the risks and to achieve the reward.

The CEO also referred to one company that is trading with them and is undergoing a lawsuit in America, and he stated that this will have zero effect on FSA.

Currently there are 60,000 overseas companies registered with the FSA.

The accompanying photos by our photographer Louis Toussaint show some highlights of President Faure’s visit to the FSA yesterday.

Christophe Zialor