In a statement published in June 2025, MMA noted that when it comes to assessing the license application, the authority will consider the financial capacity of the applicant, the source of capital, the fit and proper of the shareholders and senior management and the proposed business plan.
Hotelier Maldives
In a statement published by the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) as of 2 June 2025, the authority has warned citizens to be wary of the false information that has been spreading across the media regarding the procedures followed by the authority in issuing banking licenses.
Clarifying the process that is followed by the authority, MMA in its statement noted that under Act No. 2010/24 (Banking Act of the Maldives), the authority follows three stages in issuing a license to operate a bank. These are the stages of providing information to the applicant, the stage of assessing the application for a license and the stage of issuing a license.
MMA noted that when it comes to assessing the license application, the authority will consider the financial capacity of the applicant, the source of capital, the fit and proper of the shareholders and senior management and the proposed business plan. At this stage, the proposal will be first assessed by the Licensing Section of the Authority. After the section has evaluated the proposal, it will refer the proposal and its recommendation to the authority's Advisory Committee on Financial Institution Licensing. After the committee has evaluated the proposal and submitted it to the Governor with its advice, the proposal will then be submitted to the board of the authority. From this stage, the board will then decide on the issuance of the license.
If the board decides to grant a licence to the party, the applicant will first be issued a "conditional" permit. The purpose is to give a period to complete certain things (for example, to register the company, set up the IT infrastructure and operationalize the premises). During this period, if all the requirements for the operation of the bank are completed, the authority will assess the premises and issue a license to commence operations.
In a situation where the board decides not to authorise an application for a banking license under the above-mentioned stage, MMA clarifies that there is a possibility of re-application as the law does not require a “cooling off period” before re-application. Thus, the entire evaluation process can be run again to evaluate the application as a new application when the applicant re-applies for a license. The license will be issued only after the board has completed all the evaluation stages and the board decides that the proposal meets the requirements.
Lastly, in their statement, MMA notes that the authority has always given top priority to the strengthening of the financial sector and ensuring the integrity of the sector at all levels, and therefore, the authority will issue a license to a financial institution to operate in the Maldives only after all the legal requirements have been met.
