President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has decided that the Maldives International Financial Services Authority is to be operated under the Ministry of Finance and Planning.

He made this decision under the authority vested in the president by Article 116 (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of Maldives, based on the advice given by relevant parties in studies conducted to develop an international financial sector in the Maldives, recommending that the regulation of financial activities conducted by international financial centers should be carried out by a separate agency operating under the Ministry of Finance and Planning.

As a result of this decision, the "Maldives International Financial Services Authority", which was previously operating under the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, has been transferred to the purview of the Ministry of Finance and Planning effective from 11 March 2025.

This was announced in Announcement No. 5/2025 published on Thursday by the President's Office.

The "Maldives International Financial Services Authority" was established on 21 January 2024.

The government agency named "Maldives International Financial Services Authority" was established to develop the legal framework needed to provide on-shore financing services in addition to the off-shore financing services mentioned in Law No. 24/2014 (Special Economic Zones Act), to carry out the work related to establishing off-shore/on-shore development banks and international financial centers in the Maldives, and to conduct studies to find modern solutions to the legal and administrative barriers to developing and establishing a competitive system for the Maldivian financial market.