Botswana IFSC Certification Committee

The Botswana IFSC Certification Committee is appointed by the Minister of Finance and Development Planning to carry out a rigourous free clearence process on all Botswana IFSC applications.

The Committee has representation from various stakeholders including,

• the Director of Insurance and Pensions from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, who is the Chairperson of the Committee,
• the Director of Banking Supervision and the Principal Bank Examiner from Bank of Botswana (BoB),
• the Chief Executive Officer of the Non Banking Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority(NBFIRA),
• the Chief Executive Officer of Botswana IFSC,
• the Director, Telecommunications and Postal Services in the Ministry of Communications Science and Technology ,
• the Commissioner General and an officer of the Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS),
• the General Manager –Business Development from Botswana Development Corporation (BDC),
• the Chief Executive Officer –Botswana Export Development Investment Agency (BEDIA),
• and the Director of Tax Policy in Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP).

The Committee reviews all applications for tax certificates referred to it by the IFSC and makes recommendation for the award of tax certificates to the Minister of Finance and Development Planning.

The Certification Committee also determines the procedures to be followed in the assessment of applications for tax certificates and is responsible for making recommendations to the Minister for the revocation of tax certificates issued to entities that are found to be non compliant with the regulations set out for entities operating within the Botswana IFSC platform.

The Botswana IFSC Certification Committee considers applications and recommends the issue of approvals to those proposals which meet the criteria. To qualify for the incentives offered by the Botswana IFSC, projects must meet a number of criteria. These include a broad range of service activities according to the following guidelines:

Projects must provide financial services, as set out in Part XVI of the Income Tax (Amendment) Act 1999. These are:

• Banking and financing operations transacted in foreign currency
• The broking and trading of securities denominated in foreign currency
• Investment advice
• Management and custodial functions in relation to Collective Investment Schemes
• Insurance and related activities
• Registrars and transfer agency services
• Exploitation of intellectual property
• Development and supply of computer software for use in the provision of services described above
• Accounting and financial administration activities
• Other operations that the Minister may declare by order from time to time to be approved operations for the purposes of this section.

Furthermore the services must be provided to/for clients outside Botswana and in currencies other than the Pula and the promoters of the project must be able to satisfy the regulatory requirements of the Botswana authorities. Upon approval a tax certificate will be issued by the Minister of Finance and Development Planning or his authorized representative and will be effective, unless it is revoked, until June 2020.