Anjouan, pursuant to the Regulation of Banks and Comparable Establishments of 1999, licensed more than 300 offshore banks. All of the shell banks and other entities are located offshore and have no permanent presence in the Comoros. Anjouan sold the right to issue bank licenses and delegated most of its authority to operate and regulate the offshore business to private, non-Comoran domiciled parties.
In 2002, after Anjouan’s reentry into the Union of the Comoros as an autonomous island, Anjouan’s Offshore Finance Authority was established to promote the island as a tax haven to attract foreign capital.
In 2005, new laws were passed and all of the banking licenses issued there previous to that date were cancelled those that could show proper due diligence were reset up by the newly rearranged Offshore Finance Authority, monopolized by Anjouan Corporate Services Limited since 2003, which has claimed the authority as registered agent for all International Business Companies and banking license issuance on the island since that time and authorized directly by the Legislative Assembly in Anjouan. It should also be noted that the company claiming to sell licenses previous to 2003 were sued in the London High Court on behalf of the Anjouan Government and lost, The High Court of Justice in London confirmed after seeing all the legal documentation that Anjouan Corporate Services Ltd, were legally entitled to operate the offshore business, with full consent of the Anjouan Government. All Banking Licenses currently are issued as a Class B Banking License and have terms of one year, which are renewable as long as no complaint has been made against the Bank in violation of anti-money laundering regulations, fraud, or Banking laws.