One of the ways a business contributes to society and local prosperity is by paying taxes. Taxes – be it corporate tax or property tax – provide essential public revenues for governments to meet economic and social objectives.

The 2008 financial crisis and recession brought to the forefront the lack of public trust in business and led to much broader speculation about the taxes companies actually pay. This has led to a worldwide call from campaigning groups, NGOs and non-profit organisations for more transparency and regulation with regards to corporate tax.

And yet, this is not an easy subject because a balance needs to be found between value creation, that preserves the ability to reward investor confidence and value distribution, which ensures a fair contribution to local communities. The international and multi-country scope of Group's activities as well as the level of income and fiscal regime of some of the countries of operation make this subject all the more relevant to MCB Group’s social contribution.

MCB has dealings with customers who operate in countries that may be considered “tax havens” by the international community. As at 30 June 2019, MCB’s credit exposures in countries blacklisted for being non-cooperative tax jurisdictions by the EU, represented only 0.8% of its total credit portfolio.

MCB Capital Markets Ltd is the investment banking and asset management arm of MCB Group.

MCB Factors Ltd is a prominent operator in the field of factoring in Mauritius.

MCB Leasing Ltd offers a wide range of finance and operating leasing solutions.

MCB Microfinance provides dedicated financial support to micro and small entrepreneurs

International Card Processing Services Ltd (ICPS Ltd) provides state-of-the-art technology in Switching and Card Management Systems.

MCB Consulting Services Ltd provides companies with sustainable solutions to help them attain their innovation and business development goals.

Fincorp Investment Ltd is an investment company with diversified interests.

MCB Institute of Finance Ltd provides students and professionals with financial knowledge via dedicated courses.

Procurement is another key corporate lever for having a positive impact on the local economy and on sustainable development. In line with its strategy, MCB favours as far as possible, suppliers whose goods are of a certain quality and whose practices comply with its environmental and social standards.

With regards to its procurement practices, MCB aims to have a demonstrable impact on the environment and society, while reducing risks and encouraging suppliers and employees alike to share its standards in view of staying in a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement.

In line with the above, MCB, as a signatory to the UN Global Compact (UNGC), favours suppliers who respect the ten principles promoting human rights, fair labour practices, environmental protection and the fight against corruption. The Bank also has a procurement charter in place that defines responsible procurement as the consideration for the social and environmental aspects of the products purchased as well as the supplier’s attitude towards sustainable development. On top of that, local suppliers are encouraged to provide evidence of their quality assurance programme, health and safety programme, and their code of ethics via a specific supplier information sheet. Most of our suppliers are local companies. However, the procurement spend ratio has seen a recent increase in favour of foreign suppliers, mainly due to contracts with foreign consultants and companies having specific expertise not found locally.

MCB intends to adapt its procurement model to the circular economy concept and some projects in line with the latter are already underway.