700 shipping companies registered in two years

Over 700 shipping companies and 126 financial services firms have been registered in Malta in the last two years, according to the Parliamentary Secretariat for Small Business and Land.

Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi told Parliament a week ago that despite the global slowdown, the Malta Financial Services Authority had registered 5,544 new companies between 2008 and 2009. Dr Azzopardi was introducing the second reading of the Financial Institutions and other Financial Services Laws (Amendment) Bill.

A breakdown of the figures reveals a slight decline in registration: 2,806 companies and partnerships were registered in 2008 and 2,678 last year.

The figures for 2008 include 65 financial services companies and 402 shipping firms. Sixty-one new financial services organisations were registered in 2009 while shipping newcomers dipped to 326 last year.

The Secretariat explained the remaining figures included organisations registered by the MFSA by not yet regulated by the authority.

The Bill aims to give the regulator wider discretion on the issuance and revocation of licences in a bid to safeguard consumers and investors.

It also seeks to transpose the EU directive on payment services in the internal market, amend several directives and amend the Financial Services Authority and the Banking Acts.

The Bill was unanimously given a second reading and goes through committee stage.

Last year, deposits in the local banking sector rose one per cent to reach €14.6 billion.