Investment services last year represented the fastest growing niche in the financial sector with 21 new companies being licensed.
According to the Malta Financial Services Authority’s 2013 annual report, at the end of the year there were 125 investment service licences, the majority in category 2.
This group includes companies authorised to provide investment services or hold clients’ money and assets.
Loans and advances continued to drop
Licence holders in this category cannot operate a trading facility, deal for their own account or underwrite or place instruments on a firm commitment basis.
Out of the 21 licences issued last year, 18 were in category 2.
As for collective investment schemes, the financial watchdog issued 135 licences, a slight increase over the previous years.
The banking sector experienced a drop of almost six per cent in assets over 2012, to stand at €49.7 billion. However, in the case of core domestic banks, institutions with strong links to the national economy, assets went up by 2.4 per cent.
Loans and advances continued to drop and, in 2013, fell by 23.4 per cent to €16.4 billion, but not in the case of core domestic banks where the situation remained stable.
Commercial banks had a total of 130 branches, five less than the previous year, and 214 ATMs.
Point-of-sale terminals increased to 13,500 with more than 800,000 payment cards offering customers a way to process non-cash payments.
Lending to households accounted for a quarter of the total loans and, in the case of core domestic banks, it represented almost half (48 per cent), with €4.1 billion. Within the same category, almost 11 per cent consisted of advances to the construction industry.
Bank deposits continued to grow to reach €28.9 billion by the end of last year, up 3.1 per cent over 2012. In the case of core domestic banks, deposits increased to €12.8 billion, representing 44.4 per cent of the total.
Last year, there were 60 insurance undertakings, two more than in the previous year. Gross claims paid in 2013 surged by 17.1 per cent, reaching €0.79 billion. Claims paid in relation to risks overseas increased by 19.1 per cent and claims on risks in Malta fell by over eight per cent.
Thirty-two retirement pension schemes were registered under the Special Funds Act at the end of last year, up by 88 per cent. The assets under the management of the retirement pension schemes went up by almost 86 per cent and reached €1.1 billion.
The report also gives an overview of the supervision carried out by the MFSA to ensure that all financial institutions were compliant. In total, 37 onsite inspections were made and penalties were imposed with regard to breaches of licence conditions or law infringements.
In addition, a number of warnings to the public were also issued, including about a number of scam e-mails intended to lure account holders to disclose personal details.