The central bank of the Maldives, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has announced that 98 companies have applied for a license to provide currency exchange services.
The MMA said while these applications are under review, no new licenses have been issued yet. The authority stated that the approval process takes time to ensure that the required criteria for issuing licenses are met. However, the process will be completed soon, the MMA said.
The MMA has currently granted money exchange business permits to 212 businesses. However, 163 previously issued licenses were revoked for not applying to renew expired licenses under the recently enacted Money Exchange Business Regulations.
Money exchange business licenses are issued under two tiers. Tier 1 is a license to buy and sell foreign currency. Tier 2 is a foreign exchange trading license.
