MWALI International Services Authority (MISA) is the sole financial regulatory body in charge of supervising all the financial companies, forex brokers, gaming casinos, financial entities, and so on in the Comoros Union. The Comoros Union is comprised of four independent islands, namely Mwali (Mohéli), Maoré (Mayotte), Ndzuwani (Anjouan), N’gazidja (Grande Comore). Moreover, after becoming independent, the Mwali Services Law 1998 was legislated by the government of Mohéli (amended in 2001), Mwali became the Registrar of Companies that engage in financial activities in the aforementioned islands. It is worth noting that each island is totally free and independent to administer its own set of laws and regulations according to the Constitution of the Comoros Union. What’s more, the financial sector of Mwali island is not supervised and controlled by the Central Bank of Comoros and has been in charge of passing its own laws regarding the Offshore Financial Services Sector ever since 1998. It should also be noted that the Union of Comoros has never been on any OECD or the European Union blacklists due to painstaking measures adopted by MISA. The Legal Support division of MISA has also attended important events such as the Pan-African Network Conference on Fighting Illicit Financial Flows in Africa and the International Monetary Fund's Detailed Assessment Report on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism to ensure the implementation of the best international legal and regulatory practices.
Every regulatory body is responsible for not only licensing its registered clients but also monitoring their ongoing financial activities in their respective jurisdictions. MISA takes this issue very seriously, and therefore, goes out of its way to ensure that the registered entities completely comply with all the regulations. To that end, regular inspections and audits are done by MISA’s Anti-Laundering Unit or Financial Intelligence Unit to make sure all the laws are followed and proper sanctions are imposed in the event of breaking the law.
Ever since its establishment in 1998, MISA has managed to successfully register north of 12000 companies including 6 insurance companies, 9 gambling companies, 84 trust and brokerage companies, and 24 international banks which is by far the best resume in Africa. MISA has also made it super easy and convenient for all the International Business Companies (IBC) to get registered online within 24 hours. MISA takes pride in integrating its regulatory measures and standards regarding the financial and banking center with those of the International and Financial Business Community.
MISA also demands that all the registered companies thoroughly train and inform their staff about their roles in the respective companies to avoid any unnecessary problems down the road. Additionally, the registered companies are to set in place proper procedures to identify and battle against fraudulent activities, such as money laundering, financial crime, terrorist financing, and gaming addiction.
The Constitution of the Comoros Union also enables MISA to take charge of affairs regarding the companies’ registry, banking, trading, as well as gaming. Thus, any administrative, commercial, and industrial entities wishing to conduct business in Comoros ought to obey the laws and regulations set forth by the Jurisdiction of each autonomous island. To improve the quality of services, the licensing law for banking and other financial activities was also amended in 2013. Some of the noteworthy laws and legislations enforced by MISA include but are not limited to the Anti-Terrorism Act 2007, Customer Protection Act 2009, Banking Act 2013, AML Law 2014, and IBC Regulations 2014.
