The Comoros is an island country in the Indian Ocean off the Eastern coast of Africa. The country occupies three islands – Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli – and each island enjoys considerable autonomy from the central Government.
Below we advertise the opportunity to launch a bank in Anjouan in particular because the island’s legislation suits this purpose especially well. If you would like to visit Anjouan, you have to know that it is the second largest island in the country and it has no beaches. However, you can still find some places where you can enter the water. Swimming there is a bliss indeed.
You won’t find large hotels in Anjouan but rooms are always available at small hotels such as Le Papillon, Hotel Al Amal, Hotel Johana Livingstone, Hotel Maponge, and Hotel Karama.
You can get to Anjouan by flying to Grande Comore first and then catching a flight to Anjouan. There are international flights to Anjouan too but they are rather few and far between. The best time to visit Anjouan is the dry season between April and November. French and Arabic are the official languages in the Comoros. The national currency is the Comorian franc.
Banking license in Anjouan
The Union of the Comoros became independent from France quite recently and it has been an offshore zone ever since. It is one of the few remaining offshore countries where you can open a company with a banking license. Namely, you can register an offshore bank in Anjouan and acquire a Class II banking license there.
The Central Bank regulates the activities of all offshore banks registered in Anjouan. At the same time, a banking license entitles the company to provide the following financial services to non-residents of the Comoros:
- Accept deposits of any kinds;
- Give out loans and credits;
- Carry out currency exchange operations;
- Issue securities and bank cards;
- Keep, manage, and trade securities on behalf of the clients;
- Act as an intermediary in security trade deals;
- Issue bank guarantees of any type;
- Open accounts of any types including nostro accounts and correspondent accounts for individual and corporate customers;
- Provide precious metals, stocks, bonds, and other securities storage services to third parties;
- Assist in electronic commerce operations;
- Provide other financial services.
An offshore bank registered in Anjouan is also entitled to engage in the following activities:
- Conduct business operations as a financier, founder or concessionaire;
- Conduct all types of financial, commercial, industrial, and trading operations;
- Act as an agent or an intermediary;
- Give out loans and provide financial assistance with or without guarantees to concessionaires, inventors, patent holders, and other individuals who want to develop their concessions or land plots or who want to make experiments to test their inventions, projects, or processes.
A single natural or legal person is entitled to be the owner and the manager of an offshore bank in Anjouan. The bank can also be owned by a group of people/ legal entities. You have to supply the following documents to register an offshore bank in Anjouan:
- A detailed business plan;
- A detailed CV for every participant of the bank (director, attorney, shareholder, owner);
- Confirmations of residential addresses for every participant;
- A copy of the latest audit, if available;
- Legalized passport copies and police clearances;
- If the bank directors and/ or shareholders are legal entities, legalized corporate documents need to be submitted including the Certificate of Incumbency and the Certificate of Good Standing;
- Company owners have to submit copies of their passports and police clearances;
- If the bank is founded by a company that issues bearer shares, the company UBOs have to supply their passport copies and police clearances;
- Originals of Reference Letters from banks for all participants of the bank.
The Registrar is entitled to request any additional information. If the application documents are made in languages other than English and French, they have to be translated into one of these languages and translations need to be notarized.
The truthfulness of all information that you provide is going to be verified by an international detective agency that is authorized to carry out due diligence checks.
The applicant for offshore bank formation has to issue a € 100,000 bank guarantee to the Central bank. Alternatively, you can make a security deposit of € 100,000 with the Registrar in Anjouan. The deposit will be returned to you in 6 months after your banking license expires.
Why can a banking license be revoked in Anjouan?
The banking license becomes void at the moment when the company ceases to be registered in Anjouan. The banking license can be annulled without notice in the following cases:
- The company is involved in some kinds of activities that are illegal in accordance with the current legislation in Anjouan;
- If the company conducts business operations in the Comoros with the exception of the cases when such activities are allowed by law (see below);
- The company has less than one shareholder during any period of time;
- The company goes public.
An offshore bank registered in Anjouan is not allowed to carry out business operations on the territory of the Union of the Comoros. However, not all kinds of business operations are prohibited. The company can keep its banking license if it does the following in the country:
- Cooperates with a company registered in Anjouan in accordance with the International Companies Act;
- Rents office space in Anjouan to carry out its business operations;
- Makes deposits with third parties providing banking services in Anjouan;
- Uses the services of registered agents, professional advisors, attorneys, accountants, trust companies, management companies, consultants, insurance agents or other professionals providing such services in Anjouan;
- Keeps the accounting records in Anjouan;
- Holds shareholder and Board of Directors’ meetings in Anjouan;
- Holds shares or promissory notes issued by other companies registered in Anjouan;
- Issues shares, promissory notes, or other securities to another company registered in Anjouan.
An offshore bank has to submit the following reports to the Central Bank once a year:
- A progress report certified by a licensed auditor;
- A document certifying lack of criminal prosecution in the country where the head office of the bank is located (where the bank directors are physically present) if it is a foreign country.
Bank managers and directors are personally responsible for all mistakes and violations should they take place.
In accordance with the International Banks Act that regulates banking activities in Anjouan, an offshore bank may be required to have financial reserves or to follow certain norms and standards applied in the international banking practices.
Minimum amount of capital required for starting an offshore bank in Anjouan is US$ 1,000,000.
All offshore companies are tax exempt in Anjouan.
The Hague Convention is in force in Anjouan and documents can be apostilled.
The banking license is extended annually but it is legally possible to acquire a license for several years in Anjouan.
