Malta: Financial Services

Ganado Meets returns with a new series exploring Malta's sophisticated funds industry ecosystem. This introduction episode delves into fund administration, legal innovation, tokenisation, digitalisation, private equity, family offices, and digital-asset valuation, showcasing the depth of services that have developed over decades in Malta's financial sector.

The Malta Financial Services Authority has issued new guidance to credit institutions outlining supervisory expectations for dividend distributions, emphasizing prudent capital planning and financial resilience. While not introducing new regulatory requirements, the circular formalizes current supervisory practices and provides detailed documentation requirements for banks proposing distributions at both institutional and holding company levels.

Malta's Permanent Representative to the EU, Neil Kerr, examines how the proposed Savings and Investments Union differs from the Capital Markets Union and explores its potential impact on Malta's high household savings rate. The discussion addresses whether this EU initiative can effectively channel Malta's substantial savings into more productive investments while respecting national competencies and market proportionality.

Malta's financial regulator has proposed a new regulatory pathway for aircraft financial leasing companies that offers an alternative to existing licensing requirements. The consultation introduces Article 3B to the Financial Institutions Act, creating a registration-based framework with specific substance and governance requirements that could reshape how aviation finance entities establish operations in Malta.

Andrew Caruana Scicluna hosts Riccardo Conti of Fume and Stephen Gauci Baluci of CC Fund Services Limited to examine whether fund tokenisation delivers on its promises of liquidity and efficiency, or simply redistributes existing risks. The discussion explores how atomic settlement, fractional ownership, and smart contracts may reshape the roles of transfer agents, fund administrators, and settlement teams in daily operations.

Malta has emerged as a leading jurisdiction for Electronic Money Institutions and Payment Service Providers seeking EU market access. With a responsive regulator, efficient licensing timelines, full EU passporting rights...

Payment Institutions offering crypto-related services face a complex new regulatory landscape under MiCAR, requiring separate authorisation beyond their existing licences. The framework introduces substantial compliance obligations spanning conduct rules, disclosure requirements, and capital adequacy standards, while imposing multi-layered costs that can reach tens of thousands of euros annually. Understanding whether the commercial benefits justify these regulatory burdens has become a critical strategic q

The European Union is advancing toward the establishment of a digital euro, a central bank digital currency designed to complement physical cash while preserving privacy and ensuring universal payment access. With the European Parliament backing the initiative and the Council setting a 2029 issuance target, the proposed regulation introduces legal tender status, holding limits, and dual online-offline functionality that must harmonize with upcoming payment services legislation. As trilogue negotiations prog

The European Supervisory Authorities have released their first annual report examining major ICT-related incidents under DORA, revealing 3,383 incidents across EU financial entities in 2025. What patterns emerged regarding system failures, third-party dependencies, and cross-border impacts, and what do these findings reveal about operational resilience in an increasingly interconnected financial sector?