The Maltese archipelago is beautiful and it lies virtually at the centre of the Mediterranean, 93km south of Sicily and 288 km north of Africa. The archipelago consists of three islands: Malta, Gozo and Comino. Malta is renowned for its long and colourful history as well as for its great climate. But it does not stop here. Malta has been named European domicile of choice by the illustrious Hedge Funds Review Service Provider Rankings (HFR SP) 2013. Malta ranked 3rd in Europe in 2012 but this year it has risen to first place.
The Chairman of the Malta Financial Services Authority, Professor Joe Bannister said: “This top ranking goes some way to demonstrate the pro-active and engaged way in which we deal with companies and funds seeking to use Malta as a funds domicile or funds centre.”
Margie Lindsay, Executive Editor of Hedge Funds Review said: “It is clear many more hedge funds are considering Malta as a first-choice domicile from the voting patterns this year.”
Malta’s reputation as a hedge fund domicile was established with the island’s accession to the European Union in May 2004. In less than a decade, and from a standing start, Malta has issued more than 400 investment services licenses.
Furthermore it was recently announced that Malta was a top 20 financial services jurisdiction in the Global Competitiveness Report drawn up by the World Economic Forum. The 2013-14 Report ranked
Malta amongst the top tier of a total of 148 world nations with regards to issues related to soundness of its banking institutions (14th), the regulation of Securities Exchanges (17th) and the strength and reporting standards (13th).
And last but not least, in recent months the OECD has highlighted the quality of the Maltese tax framework stating that it was in full conformity with the requirements related to International transparency standards and exchange of information for tax purposes.
So Malta is the place to be and, as much as its attraction lies in what it has to offer as a holiday destination, today Malta is a jurisdiction of choice for financial services as well as other industries.
Roselyn Knight is a dual qualified lawyer (Malta and England) and is able to assist clients who would like to find out more about what structures Malta can offer their business.