Mauritius: Launch of a new bank focused on SMEs

The third largest bank in Mauritius, MauBank, opened on Monday, January 4th.

The new bank was created following the Bramer Bank scandal, which had its licence withdrawn after the discovery of a scam.

Last year, the Mauritius Central Bank discovered a Ponzi scheme - a fraudulent financial package - of about 25 billion rupees (€646 million).

To replace it, the Mauritian government announced the creation of a new banking entityowned by the state - named National Commercial Bank (NCB).

In September, the government decided to merge the NCB and the Mauritius Post and Cooperative Bank (MPCB) to give birth to MauBank, which will focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).