TICID/ International Consultant to carry out the development of a National Fintech Strategy for the Republic of Mauritius

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Result of Service

1. Fintech ecosystem assessment and benchmarking exercise The assessment of the local fintech ecosystem in Mauritius will be primary led by a local consultant who will review the local market and carry out interviews with key fintech stakeholders. The international consultant will work with the local consultant to discern the key challenges and opportunities following the ecosystem assessment and will lead the work on the identification of international fintech benchmarks across the six pillars: funding, demand, talent, infrastructure, regulation and governance. 2. Vision and National Fintech Strategy Following the outcomes of the assessment, a Fintech vision and strategy will be considered and approved by the authorities in Mauritius. 3. Implementation Plan An implementation plan reflecting the short-term, mid-term and long-term perspective, with relevant initiatives to be designed to execute the National Strategy to cater for diverse stakeholders and end-users needs and requirements. 4. Power Point Presentation with key messages of the strategy; 5. Other communication and presentation materials as needed;

Work Location

Remotely

Expected duration

3 months

Duties and Responsibilities

Introduction Mauritius has been keen to harness the benefits of the Fintech revolution and strives to become a Fintech Hub for Africa by ensuring conducive environment for Fintech start-ups. The Government of Mauritius (GoM) has identified Fintech as one of the key economic drivers which can support financial inclusion and improve financial services for the benefit of consumers, businesses, and government. Fintech is an essential component for the future of the financial services sector. Fintech in Mauritius will greatly assist in supporting the development of strong financial services as a core pillar of the economy. The technological transformation delivered by the Fintech industry underscores numerous financial products and services delivered to institutional and retail clients. Fintech companies consist of start-ups, established financial institutions and technology companies trying to replace or enhance the usage of financial services provided by existing financial institutions. Since 2018, regulators in Mauritius have been proactively developing the regulatory landscape in the country to facilitate the ease of doing business for Fintech start-ups. The country known as an International Finance Center (IFC) of choice, repute and excellence has taken major initiatives and effort to create a conducive ecosystem to ensure the growth of the Fintech industry. However, in the absence of an appropriate regulatory framework for Fintech in Mauritius, a National Regulatory Sandbox Committee was set up to support the Economic Development Board (EDB) in considering the Regulatory Sandbox Licence (RSL) applications from enterprises which are engaged in Fintech-based activities. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has also issued new licensable activities, namely the (i) Custodian Services for Digital Assets, (ii) Peer to Peer lending, (iii) a framework for Security Token Offering, (iv) Digital Asset Market Place and (v) Robotic and Artificial Intelligence Enabled Advisory Services license. There was also the setting up of the Mauritius Africa Fintech Hub amongst others. Eventually, the Virtual Asset Initial Token Offering Services (VAITOS) Act came into force on 7th February 2022. The Act provides for a regulatory framework for new and developing activities regarding Virtual Assets (“VAs”) and Initial Token Offerings (“ITOs”) in Mauritius, as well as to safeguard against money laundering and financing of terrorism associated when dealing with VAs. Mauritius has a conducive ecosystem for Financial Services in terms of business regimes, bi-lingual workforce, hybrid legal system (English and French), and economic stability. However, further enhancement is required to develop a strong foundation and ecosystem to fully integrate Fintech in the business environment. The banking, insurance and retail sector have all embarked and adopted Fintech at different levels of their operations. So far, there are tools such as wallets, payment systems and distribution in the Fintech landscape. As the financial services sector is undergoing a structural shift, the preparation of a National Strategy for the development of the Fintech sector, which will encompass a policy guidelines for its implementation, is essential to achieve the desired results and position Mauritius as a Fintech Hub for the region and the African market. The current rate of digital adoption in Mauritius in 2023 is indicated below: • There were 878.7 thousand internet users in Mauritius at the start of 2023, when internet penetration stood at 67.6 percent. Increase of 0.05% since last year. • Mauritius was home to 875.0 thousand social media users in January 2023, equating to 67.3 percent of the total population. • A total of 1.95 million cellular mobile connections were active in Mauritius in early 2023, with this figure equivalent to 150.3 percent of the total population. Increase of 1.2% since last year. Objective To this end the ECA seeks to engage an international consultant to develop the National Fintech Strategy of Mauritius with the objective to support a cohesive, coordinated and regulatory sound approach to the adoption of Fintech technologies by business operators in Mauritius, as well as to accelerate the growth of the sector and serve as a model for other African countries striving to develop flourishing Fintech ecosystems. Furthermore, the aim is to define the role of the government, regulators, industry operators and other stakeholders in ensuring operators and start-ups stepping into the Fintech arena have necessary support to establish, flourish, and expand, both in Mauritius and Africa. By implementing a well-defined national strategy, it would be possible to create an enhanced policy environment that supports the scaling up of Fintech, facilitate the development of talent pools and attracts operators and other stakeholders. Duties and Responsibilities Under the guidance of the Technology, Innovation, Connectivity, and Infrastructure Division (TICID) and the supervision of the Chief of the Technology, Innovations and Digital Transformation Section, the Consultant will perform the following tasks: • A proposed structured regulatory framework that effectively manages risks for both Fintech participants and consumers. • A right mix of actionable strategies and policies in a three-phased approach, that is short-term, medium-term and long-term. • A framework on how government and the industry can work in partnership with the regulators for Mauritius to become a leading and sustainable Fintech Hub. • An implementation plan following the three-phased approach, which takes into consideration the role of the different stakeholders. The best ideas will yield the best results only if properly implemented. The development of the National Fintech Strategy should cover the following activities, inter-alia: (a) Identification of key constraints and challenges impacting on development of Mauritius as a Fintech Hub and measures on how to address them. Specific areas to consider include the adequacy of the legal and regulatory frameworks, digital infrastructure needs, talent development, demand and funding needs. - Some of the current challenges are: i) the lack of understanding of Fintech across all sector; ii) the lack of direction and synergy to make Mauritius a Fintech Hub, where players in the sector have been evolving at their own pace and as per their business needs, commercial banks not onboarding Fintech clients as they are seen to be too risky, keeping abreast with technological and digital innovation. (b) Identification of the competitive advantage of Mauritius vs competing Fintech hubs in the region/Africa (why fintech in Mauritius) (c) Identification/prioritisation of key sectors and markets to be served in Mauritius, the region and Africa. (d) A marketing strategy to promote Mauritius as a leading Fintech Hub. This should include an incentive package (financial and non-financial) to attract companies and start-ups to set up in the Mauritius Fintech Hub to serve both Mauritius and Africa. (e) Cybersecurity - Enhance cybersecurity and data protection measures to safeguard financial transactions and customer information. (f) Talent development - There need to be proper training of the talents and develop proper curricula in information technology and also business, to equip youngsters with skills in the future. This can be achieved through partnerships with different academia, private sectors, and other hubs for training in FinTech related careers (g) Capital Requirements - Evaluation of the funding requirements for implementation of the strategy including identification of sources of capital (e.g Government, Venture Capital, Investors etc) to be used at each stage of Fintech development (h) Education/ training and Awareness - Undertaking of financial literacy and awareness/sensitization programme to facilitate financial inclusion

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in digital payments, information and communication technologies (ICT), information management, Development studies or related field or other relevant area is required. A first-level university degree in digital payments, information and communication technologies (ICT), information management, Development studies or related field of studies with two additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. Practical substantive experience in undertaking research, providing advice and supporting governments in Africa in the field of digital payments, Fintech, ICT at national or regional level is required. Experiences with UN in general or national development or academic research in particular with respect to information and communication technology (ICT) for development in Africa is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working language of the United Nations. For the consultancy advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of the other language is desirable.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.