Finance Malta yesterday launched a series of five guides designed to give international investors a detailed insight into the island’s key financial services sectors.
In view of the rapid growth experienced by the niches markets, Finance Malta opted for a dedicated guide for each, rather than update the previous single publication.
The magazine-style guides focus on wealth management, credit and financial institutions, trusts and foundations, insurance and pensions, and investment funds and asset management.
Malta’s financial services landscape now features more than 500 funds and 100-plus asset management companies.
Finance Malta chairman Kenneth Farrugia said funds business was spearheading the growth of the entire sector besides contributing to the emergence of a cluster.
The international insurance community had grown eight-fold to 50 operators in a few years, while the banking sector now spanned 25 institutions from 15 countries. Meanwhile, Malta has evolved into a key location for wealth managers, family offices, high net worth individuals, and retirees.
Complete with a QR code on the cover, each guide presents key technical information in an attractive and comprehensive format with details on regulation and oversight, the tax regime, business environment, and lifestyle. Other than service provider listings over three or four pages, the guides do not contain advertising.
Produced by Country Profiler Ltd, the guides are intended to complement Finance Malta’s “existing tool box”, Mr Farrugia explained. Since its inception in May 2007, the public-private partnership tasked with promoting the Malta jurisdiction, has worked hard to make the most effective use of marketing channels and leverage technology.
Financial services professionals and industry associations interacting with potential investors will find the guides particularly useful as they endeavour to sell Malta first before offering their services.
The publications’ design and content are based on feedback from Finance Malta members and compiled in collaboration with partners in government, the regulator and various sector associations.
Using the regulatory, economic, legal and technical information in the guides, investors at all levels will be able to examine the potential of the Malta offering and make the necessary comparisons with other jurisdictions.
Finance Malta has printed 2,000 copies of each guide and the information should be valid for two years. The guides, which are available on request from Finance Malta, are also downloadable at financemalta.org.
At the launch yesterday, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech emphasised that far from resting on its laurels after having shaped a “true, valued proposition”, Malta had to continue to strive to remain competitive.
As things stood, the jurisdiction ticked all the right boxes but Mr Fenech warned it was important the authorities remained vigilant to ensure the Malta offering was sound and able to grow thanks to the reputation it had earned.
He pledged to support the national effort to help the financial services industry adapt to changing realities by constantly examining legislation that needed upgrading to attract new business.
Mr Fenech said the schemes to attract high net worth and qualified professionals had been successful in bringing the right people to Malta. Outside the sector – which had fostered an increase of 1,000 jobs in the last months – the economy was witnessing the registration of an average 800 new companies every quarter.