Mauritius' version of the UK's Retail Distribution Review bears all the hallmarks of its foreign origin.

Mauritius' all-in-one financial regulator has published a memo to remind all insurers and insurance brokers of their obligations to uphold its new 'competency standards'. When applying for the registration of an insurance salesperson, every insurer must now make a 'statement of declaration' to the Financial Services Commission that attests that he has received 'relevant training'; that he has submitted a 'Certificate of Character'. In the case of an application for a licence by an insurance agent, the insurer must send the FSC the same kind of statement, attesting that relevant training has been provided to the insurance agent or to the designated officer(s) of the insurance agent (i.e. the company); and that a Certificate of Character has been submitted by the insurance agent or the designated officer(s) of the insurance agent.

Insurers must notify the FSC Mauritius, as it likes to be called, of any training they are thinking of providing to insurance salespersons and insurance agents in accordance with Annex 4 of the Competency Standards at least 5 working days prior to the moment the training begins. Insurers have the ultimate responsibility of ensuring that the training satisfies the Competency Standards in every technicality. Insurers must maintain records of any relevant training attended by insurance salespersons and insurance agents, including an attendance sheet of the participants. They must also keep records of the structured CPD (continuous professional development) activity completed by insurance salespersons and insurance agents acting on their behalf. Such CPD records must be made available for inspection by the FSC Mauritius, at any time, upon request.

Insurance brokers and re-insurance brokers licensed before 01 January 2015 have to ask the FSC Mauritius to approve the appointment of at least one designated officer by 1 January 2016.

Upon the appointment of a broking staff, insurance brokers and re-insurance brokers must hand the FSC Mauritius a Statement of Declaration attesting that it is competent and that it has submitted a Certificate of Character.

Insurance brokers and re-insurance brokers must keep records of the structured CPD activity completed by their designated officer(s) and their broking staff. Such CPD records must be made available for inspection by the FSC Mauritius, at any time, upon request.

Fitness and propriety

The Competency Standards are part of the Fair Market Conduct Programme which the FSC Mauritius” or the “Commission”) is implementing. In these standards, 'broking staff' has the same meaning as in the Insurance (Insurance Brokers) Rules of 2008. In considering whether a person is 'fit and proper' under section 20 of the Financial Services Act 2007, the FSC Mauritius may, inter alia, have regard to his financial standing; his education, qualifications and experience; his ability to perform the relevant functions properly, efficiently, honestly and fairly; and his reputation, character, financial integrity and reliability. His competence, being one of these elements of the fit and proper requirements, is assessed with regard to the person’s education, qualifications together with relevant experience. The commission, like the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, is fighting shy of designing courses or examinations.

There are 3 levels of competency: basic (denoting a familiarity with basic concepts); intermediate (a thorough understanding of fundamental concepts "and their application in the field of knowledge"); and advanced (a thorough understanding of advanced concepts "and their application in the field of knowledge"). Language this loose might be thought meaningless. Nevertheless, this is not intended to be an exhaustive list of acceptable qualifications, so the regulator obviously wants to see some 'levelling-up.'

Parts of the document that sets out the standards put some – but not much – flesh on these brittle bones. A type 1 'new representative' of a full-service investment dealer, for example, must have an 'advanced knowledge' (this phrase is still not explained) of: the general principles of securities; securities products; the general principles of fund management and fund management products; and the regulatory set-up for securities-related activities in Mauritius.

Like the Weimar constitution's article 48, however, this set of standards contains its own self-destruct mechanism. Standard 4.6 states: "In the event that a person does not hold the minimum qualification or other comparable qualification, the commission may consider, on a case by case basis, whether the person has sufficient relevant experience to demonstrate the required competency level." The only possible explanation for this must be the fact that on small islands the appliance of even-handed justice breaks down when its target is a member of one of the interlinked ruling families, or a faithful retainer thereof.

Mauritian ABs not in evidence

The standards do not mention the existence of British-style 'accredited bodies' such as the Chartered Insurance Institute. (The others in the UK are the CFA Society of the UK; the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI); the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland (CIOBS); the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII); the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW); the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP); the Institute of Financial Services (IFS); and the Pensions Management Institute.) They do, however, imply at 4.8 that the Mauritius Qualifications Authority has a monopoly on approval for any professional body (perhaps one of the British ones, many of which have international memberships) that wishes to run courses. The only other type of thing or person who receives overt approval for this activity in 4.8 is "an officer or employee of the licensee [firm] who possesses the relevant qualification and experience to conduct the training."

CPD

Mauritius' mandatory structured CPD hours per annum are as follows: 10 hours for insurance salespersons, insurance agents, insurance brokers and their 'new broking staff', the newly-licensed reinsurance brokers and their 'new broking staff' and money-laundering reporting officers (MLROs) and 'alternate MLROs' (qualified to fill in when the MLROs are on holiday) appointed by licensees as from 1 January 2015; 15 hours for the new category of collective investment scheme manager; 'new representatives' of investment dealers (full service dealers types 1, 2 and 3, brokers types 1 and 2 and discount brokers type 1) licensed by the FSC Mauritius as from 1 January 2015 and for 'restricted licensed' and 'unrestricted licensed' categories of the same 'new representatives' of investment dealers. No mandatory time equals the UK's universal figure of 35 hours. The structure as a whole, however, is unmistakably based on the UK's.