On the 1st January 2017, the Family Business Act (Chapter 565 of the laws of Malta) came into force in Malta with the aim of, inter alia, encouraging the regulation of family businesses, their governance and the transfer of the family business from one generation to the next, thereby assisting family businesses to enhance their internal organisation and structure with a view to working towards a seamless and effective succession of the family business.
Earlier this year, the Malta Financial Services Authority (“MFSA”) announced the launch of an innovative new breed of investment fund regime for Alternative Investment Funds (“AIFs”), namely the Notified AIF.
An article written by our Managing Partner, Dr Richard Bernard, for the Malta 2016 special report published by the prestigious HFMWeek and which focusses on the regulatory innovation that underpins Malta’s role as a European hedge fund domicile of choice.
Recent months have seen a notable increase in enquiries and overall interest in Malta as a preferred European domicile of choice for e-money institutions (EMIs).
In an interview conducted by AirMalta’s popular in-flight magazine, ‘Il-Bizzilla’, our Managing Partner, Dr Richard Bernard, discusses Malta’s ‘coming of age’ as a European financial services centre and explains what makes Malta so attractive to financial services operators.
An overview of Malta’s Recognised Incorporated Cell Companies (RICC) regulatory regime which effectively extended the ‘cellular’ concept to the world of hedge funds by introducing a ‘platform’ type of model comprising a RICC providing standardised administrative services to any number of incorporated cells (IC), each duly licensed as a collective investment scheme or fund, which administrative services largely consist of routine contractual matters and start-up support.
The extent and sophistication of modern-day organised crime has led criminal entrepreneurs to devise highly innovative and complex methods to launder their profits. Money laundering is the process of disguising the existence, illegal source or illegal application of the proceeds of crime with a view to transforming criminal income into ostensibly legitimate money or other assets. Simply put, it is the ‘legitimising’ of illegitimately generated capital.
Malta’s investment services legislation was enacted back in 1994 as part of the jurisdiction’s initiative to bolster its legal and regulatory framework in anticipation of its application for EU membership. Indeed the island’s accession to the European Union in May, 2004 proved to be the primary catalyst for the exponential growth of its financial services industry, thrusting the jurisdiction onto the world map by coupling an ‘onshore’ robust and comprehensive regulatory and legislative framework which inspires confidence with a Europe-wide ‘passporting’ system and effectively crystallising Malta’s role as a European hub for financial services.
A snapshot of the record-keeping obligations incumbent upon corporate entities formed and registered in Malta in terms of the applicable legislative framework.
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