The Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) has been licensed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority to provide Advising and Arranging services.
Sebastian Graewert has been appointed as the Senior Executive Officer of MCB DIFC Branch, MCB's first branch in the Middle East region.
The Mauritius Commercial Bank had previously established a Representative Office in the DIFC in July 2019
Although geographically distant, Mauritius and UAE have quite many common points and goals, it said in a statement on 13 December.
On top of being in the same time zone, both IFCs have Africa as their focal point.
The UAE has 20 Double Taxation Agreements (DTAs) in force with African countries, while Mauritius have 16.
When combining these DTAs, more than 60% of African countries are covered. With Mauritius being only one of the two investment-grade rated countries in Africa by Moody's Investors Service, it can become a strategic partner to companies domiciled in the DIFC seeking to extend their reach into Africa.
This expansion of the MCB's scope to the Middle Eastern region is aligned with its mandate to further facilitate transactions to and from Africa.
Since 2014, MCB has expanded its activities across the African continent and developed strong expertise and appetite for doing business in Africa and the related risks.
Alain Law Min, Chief Executive Officer, MCB said: "We are upgrading our presence in the DIFC from a representative office to a Branch with a DFSA/Category 4 license, which demonstrates our commitment to UAE and MENA-based clients and our interest in contributing to further trade and investment flows between this region and Africa.
"We wish to leverage the strong network and commercial clout of Dubai as a business hub and its synergies with the Mauritius IFC, in order to broaden MCB's international footprint. Our ambition is to play a central role in opening up the financial opportunities of the Africa-Gulf corridor, for the benefit of our customers".
