The Money Services Business Act No. 11 of 2010 (MSB Act) provides for the licensing and regulation of money services providers in Saint Lucia.

Money services business refers to the provision one of more of the following services, either as a primary business or as an agent of franchise holder:

• transmission of money or monetary value in any form;
• cheque cashing;
• currency exchange;
• the issuance, sale or redemption of money orders or traveller’s cheques;
• Micro-lending; and
• any other services determined by the Authority

A licence is required to operate any class of money services business in Saint Lucia. A licensed money service business is required to make annual payments as licence fees.

There are five (5) classes of licence, determined by the nature of service being provided. The Class E category for Micro-lending was added to the MSB Act in 2014 by way of an amendment. Micro-Lending is described as: “money lending or granting of credit facilities of up to a limit of fifty thousand dollars by a financial institution, other than a bank, that does not solicit, receive or accept monetary deposit, investment or any other financial instruments from the public to finance these loans.”

A description of each class of licence along with the applicable annual licence fees is given below.

Class of Licence	Description of Licence	Annual Licence Fees
		Main Agent	Sub Agent

CLASS A

Transmission of money or monetary value in any form Issuance, sale or redemption of money orders or traveller's cheques Cheque cashing Currency Exchange

5,000

500

CLASS B

Issuance, sale or redemption of money orders or traveller's cheques Cheque cashing Currency Exchange

3,000

300

CLASS C

Cheque cashing

2,000

200

CLASS D

Currency Exchange

2,000

200

CLASS E

Micro-Lending

10,000

2,000

Requirements for Licence

An applicant seeking to be licenced to carry on money service business from St Lucia must make an application to the Authority.

The application form as prescribed in Part 1 of Schedule 2 of the MSB Act, duly completed, must be submitted to the Authority accompanied by:

• The prescribed application fee
• Due diligence information in respect of all promoters
• A Business Plan
• Any other documents or additional information that may be required.

In reviewing the application, the Authority will consider among other matters:

• The reputation and character of the applicant
• The financial status of the applicant
• The experience of management
• The source of initial capital
• Convenience and needs of the community to be served

The non-refundable application fee is XCD 100 for Classes A, B, C & D and XCD 1,000 in the case of Class E.