James Benoit : “The excess liquidity is probably a sign of our success”

Since Mauritius is gradually becoming the gateway to Africa, we can expect to see to more banks on the domestic market, says the CEO of Afrasia.

BUSINESSMAG. What are the main challenges facing the banking sector?

As we do business in Africa, the major challenges are compliance issues so we have to do our job properly. One of the other challenges is to communicate more on what Mauritius is really doing to develop Africa.

BUSINESSMAG. How far is compliance affecting the banking business?

Compliance is costly. As far as we are concerned, we needed to hire several more people because it is hard to keep up with the norms, sometimes they overlap or even contradict. Yes compliance is not going to go away so we have to manage but it is very challenging. It has been seven years now since we have set up Afrasia and during these years, compliance and regulations have grown exponentially.

BUSINESSMAG. Some multinational banks even had to pull out their services in some African countries as costs of compliance were getting too high. So, how far would you say compliance issues and costs could affect the development of regional banking for countries like Mauritius?

Mauritius needs to take care to adopt and adapt international best practice and suitable local terms and timing. Many other countries do this and sometimes we are rushing policies in place without due thought to proper implementation.

BUSINESSMAG. Is Mauritius still an attractive destination despite the changing environment with the introduction of local regulations relating to ratios, credit and corporate governance, amongst others?

Yes it is. We try to do the best things and to stick to good practices, Mauritius is still a great place to do banking.

BUSINESSMAG. Are you satisfied with the measures taken by the Central bank as regards fees and commissions of banks?

We are a new bank and customers come to us for service and cost reasons. So I cannot think that Afrasia fees are too high. Also very soon the majority of bank fee income will come from international and non-resident clients. Those clients are also not complaining...

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