Societe Generale Securities Services (SGSS) has extended its South African custody hub to Mauritius by becoming the first remote participant to receive approval from the Mauritius Financial Services Commission (FSC) to provide comprehensive custody services in the country.

These services will be provided in Mauritius through SGSS' custody hub in Johannesburg, backed by dedicated teams with extensive experience and expertise in the 11 African markets in which SGSS is present.

SGSS’ pan-African integrated custody platform has been successfully connected to Mauritius’ Central Depository & Settlement Co. Ltd (CDS), the result of close cooperation between SGSS and the Mauritius regulatory authorities to amend local legislation and allow a remote custodian to participate in the market.

This initiative enables SGSS to offer domestic and international investors in Mauritius first-class services that are fully compliant with international industry standards.

SGSS offers a full range of securities services in South Africa to a broad client–base of asset managers, global custodians, investment banks and broker dealers.

The overall offering in the country now includes both local and global custody, clearing and settlement services across all asset classes, as well as securities lending and treasury solutions.

"Extending its custody hub to Mauritius underlines SGSS' continued commitment to sub-Saharan Africa and represents a further step in its strategy to expand its wider presence across Africa, a continent which is undergoing rapid growth, and to provide domestic and international clients with reliable and quality products and services for their operations and development," the company said in a statement.