The influx of Irish-registered companies to Malta and the prominent visits by Irish government officials is a clear sign of the increasingly warm relations between the two countries. For a country such as Malta, with a small open economy, such links are vital to its prosperity, as are the rich resources that both islands hold.
Ireland, like Malta, has long been recognised as the largest financial centre for hedge funds and fund administration. Since its launch in 1987, Ireland’s main financial regulator, IFSC, has been enhancing Ireland’s role in both the European and global marketplace as a preferred destination. Meanwhile, through the diligent work of the MFSA, Malta has strengthened its brand as a solid performer for financial regulatory services. It is evident that Malta’s fund industry would not have enjoyed the growth experienced to date but for its regulator.
“Malta’s biggest advantage over Ireland is that, being in a small economy, access to senior government figures, regulators and other decision makers is relatively straightforward,” stated Patrick J. O’Brien, Exante’s communications director. “For companies like Exante, this is vitally important. As a online broker with a solid and transparent framework, our brand is of the utmost importance; having strong upfront relationships with our partners makes this easy.”
Having built a renowned environment for hedge funds through its various offerings, Ireland’s tax environment is one of the most competitive in the continent at 12.5% corporation tax, with no net asset tax and no fund tax. In addition, it has a recognised infrastructure serving over $1.26 trillion in assets under management. Malta’s tax legislation provides a number of incentives to shareholders of Malta companies deriving income from their investments and/or trading activities, whether derived from Maltese companies or companies registered outside of Malta.
Malta was named ‘most favoured domicile in Europe’ and continues to register year-on-year growth. Given these facts it is clear that both countries can benefit a lot from each other over the coming months.
Source: FinanceMalta