Registering With the FIU and Using goAML

If your company falls within the anti-money laundering framework, goAML Mauritius is the channel through which reports reach the Financial Intelligence Unit. Registration with the FIU comes first; online filing follows. This page explains who needs to register, how the process generally runs, what you should have ready, and which duties continue after the first report.

It describes the process in general terms. The FIU sets the exact forms, screens and supporting documents, and can change them, so always check its current instructions before you start.

What the FIU is and why you register with it

The Financial Intelligence Unit is established by section 9 of the Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Act (FIAMLA), and section 10 lists its functions. In practice, the FIU receives reports from businesses and professionals, analyses them, and passes relevant intelligence to the competent authorities.

The FIAMLA is Act 6/2002 and has been in force since 10 June 2002. The consolidated version published by the FIU in 2026 incorporates Act No. 3 of 2026, which amended Part IV (measures against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing) with effect from 18 April 2026.

For a company, registration with the FIU is not a corporate formality like incorporation. It is the practical step that lets the people responsible for AML duties file reports electronically. For the wider picture of those duties, see AML/CFT compliance for Mauritian companies.

Do you need to register?

The question is whether you are a "reporting person". The FIAMLA schedule lists the regulated professions, and the Company Service Provider appears there, with the Registrar of Companies as its regulatory body. An ordinary trading or holding company is not automatically in the same position as a service provider, but it may still deal with obligations through its bankers, auditors or advisers.

An auditor also has a reporting duty under section 14. Whether your own company must register depends on its activity and on how it is supervised. That answer turns on your facts, so ask an adviser to confirm it, or send your question through the contact form.

The registration and filing process step by step

Step 1: decide who files

The person who files is not just a clerical choice. Reports contain sensitive information, and the filer must understand what goes into them. Many businesses give this task to their Money Laundering Reporting Officer, with a deputy named for absences.

Step 2: gather the entity details

Have the company's incorporation documents and business registration number to hand. Both come from the Corporate and Business Registration Department (CBRD), which administers the Companies Act 2001 and the Business Registration Act 2002. A business registration number is unique to each registered business.

You will also need the identification details of the individual who will use the account. Treat that person's credentials as personal and never share one login among several staff.

Step 3: request access

The FIU publishes the current registration procedure on its website. Follow it exactly. If the company relies on a service provider for administration, agree who submits the application and who holds the resulting access.

Step 4: test the access

Sign in once registration is confirmed. A first login on the day a report is due is a poor moment to discover a forgotten password or a mistyped detail.

Step 5: prepare and submit a report

Whether a transaction is reportable at all is a separate analysis, covered in suspicious transaction reports in Mauritius. What matters here is the mechanics: complete every required field, describe the facts in a clear and chronological way, and attach the supporting records.

On timing, a reporting person or auditor must report a suspicious transaction to the FIU as soon as they become aware of it, and no later than 5 working days after the suspicion arises (section 14 of the consolidated FIAMLA, 2026 text). Do not leave the registration question to the last day.

Step 6: keep the evidence

Keep a copy of what you filed and any acknowledgement. Section 17F sets retention periods, covered below.

Other reports that go through the FIU

Suspicious transaction reports are the best-known filing, but they are not the only one. Section 17G of the FIAMLA requires a reporting person to send the FIU, within the prescribed time and in the prescribed form, a report on any cash transaction that reaches the prescribed amount, including linked transactions. The amount and format are set outside the Act, so check the current regulations rather than relying on a figure from memory.

The FIU also gives general feedback to reporting persons and to supervisory authorities on their reporting obligations (section 14(1A)–(1B)). That feedback is general in nature. It does not comment on your individual report.

What to prepare before you log in

• Name the person who files, and a deputy
• Gather the incorporation documents and business registration number
• Confirm the identification details of the filing officer
• Check the FIU's current registration procedure and forms
• Write an internal procedure showing who escalates, who decides, who files
• Record the date the account was confirmed and test the login
• Store a copy of every report and acknowledgement in the compliance file
• Schedule staff training so that colleagues know whom to alert

Your internal procedure should also connect to your business risk assessment. Under section 17, as amended by Act 3 of 2026, each reporting person must identify, assess and understand its money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing risks, looking at customers, geographic areas, products, services, transactions and delivery channels. The level of mitigation then follows from that assessment.

Keeping records after you file

Filing is not the end of the obligation. Under section 17F of the FIAMLA, the minimum retention periods are:

• Customer due diligence records, meaning identity documents of customers and beneficial owners: at least 7 years after the end of the business relationship.
• Transaction records: 7 years after the transaction.
• Copies of suspicion reports: at least 7 years after filing.

These records come from your KYC process for corporate clients. A general discussion of what to retain appears in company records and how long to keep them. Where the two overlap, follow the longer requirement.

What goes wrong, and what it can cost

The most common failures are administrative: nobody holds the login, the filer has left the company, or the report is prepared but never submitted. A reporting person, or its officer, employee or agent, who knowingly or without reasonable excuse breaches sections 17 to 17G of the FIAMLA, destroys a required record or facilitates a transaction under a false identity, faces a fine of up to Rs 10 million and imprisonment of up to 5 years. See penalties for failing anti-money laundering duties for the wider enforcement picture.

Training reduces these risks. The staff who first notice something unusual are rarely the person with FIU access, so AML/CFT training and independent audit should cover the internal escalation route as well as the legal rules. For the legislative background, read AML/CFT legislation explained.