Malta: Insolvency/Bankruptcy

When a company liquidation doesn't proceed as expected, creditors and contributories have legal recourse. Article 243 of Malta's Companies Act provides mechanisms to challenge a liquidator's conduct, ensuring accountability through court supervision and oversight by the Registrar of Companies.

Player funds occupy a distinctive position under Maltese gaming law. Although a licensed operator may receive, administer and transfer money standing to the credit of its players, those funds are not treated simply as part of the operator’s property or as an ordinary debt appearing on its balance sheet.

Under Maltese company law, creditors holding at least one-fourth of a company's debt value have the statutory right to request a meeting to potentially replace the Official Receiver as liquidator. This mechanism provides creditors with meaningful influence over the liquidation process, particularly when specialized expertise or a different approach to asset recovery is needed.

On 23 December 2022, the Pre-Insolvency Act (Chapter 631 of the Laws of Malta) ("Pre-Insolvency Act"), came into force, introducing new preventive restructuring procedures.

On November 15, 2024, the Insolvency and Receivership Service, a part of the Malta Business Registry, unveiled a new self-evaluation insolvency tool.

On the 15th of November, 2024, the Insolvency and Receivership Service within the Malta Business Registry (the "MBR") launched a new online portal...

English company law is an important source of Maltese company law and the court acknowledged that the Maltese Companies Act drew heavily from the 1985 UK Companies Act.

In its recent decision Xuereb v Weber Construction Limited Et (decided 18 March 2021) the Civil Court (Commercial Section) weighed in once more on the appropriate tests to be applied when assessing a company's inability to pay ...

On 15th September 2020, the Companies Act (Suspension of Filing for Dissolution and Winding Up) Regulations (the 'Regulations') were introduced as part of several other measures intended...