The Principality of Monaco is an international financial center, with a strong presence of international banking groups and a legislative framework overhauled in 2007 to broaden the range of financial services and protect investors. Certain activities may be conducted only under a license issued by the Financial Activities Supervisory Commission (Commission de Contrôle des Activités Financières, CCAF). Establishing whether a planned activity falls inside or outside that scope is the first question to settle, before the structure is chosen, not after.
We advise throughout the process of establishing a regulated financial entity in the Principality, and we advise entities that are already licensed.
Which activities require a license
Advising on or investing in securities on behalf of third parties requires a CCAF license. Licensed services include portfolio management for third parties, management of Monegasque or foreign funds, investment advice, and the reception and transmission of orders.
The applicant must be incorporated as a Société Anonyme Monégasque, which itself requires authorization for incorporation by Ministerial Order and a minimum share capital of 150,000 euros. For financial activities the law sets a higher amount: a licensed entity must hold a minimum share capital of between 150,000 euros and 1.9 million euros, depending on the activities it intends to conduct.
Where a family office stands
A single family office serving one family, through its own structure and for its own account, does not engage in a regulated activity. It is nonetheless incorporated as a Société Anonyme Monégasque, and its incorporation must be authorized by Ministerial Order. A family office that starts advising or investing beyond its own family falls under a different regulatory regime, whether or not its documents have changed, and needs a license.
How we approach the structure itself is on our Single family offices page.
Single family offices in MonacoUnregulated vehicles
A Société Civile Particulière (SCP) may hold and invest its own assets, including real estate, vessels, and securities, for its own account only. It may not conduct any activity or investment on behalf of third parties, and doing so takes it into regulated territory.
Compliance, at the level it belongs
Regulatory questions are part of our transaction work. They arise in a valuation, in an international expansion, in the governance of a group, and we handle them there, with the board and the owners.
We do not draft or update internal compliance procedures, and we do not provide compliance services. That is a matter of professional ethics: both partners teach the subject in the Principality, and teaching it and selling it are not compatible.
Institutional engagement
Richard Marcon is Vice-President of the Association Monégasque des Compliance Officers, where he chairs the committee for the legal and accounting professions. He is the author of several articles on the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing, and corruption, has been invited on several occasions by the National Council of the Principality to comment on draft legislation, and regularly advises the Monegasque employers’ federation (FEDEM) on these matters. He also appears for the firm’s clients before the Monegasque Financial Security Authority (AMSF).
Both partners sit on the teaching committee of the compliance certificate run by the International University of Monaco with the association.
Supervision
The currency is the euro. Monegasque banks are supervised by the French prudential authorities. Financial services are supervised by the CCAF, and the AMSF exercises supervisory and enforcement powers in financial security matters. Monaco complies with international standards on tax transparency and on the fight against money laundering.