Entries by War Chest

Malta outranks many European jurisdictions in Basel AML Index

In the latest edition of the Basel AML Index Malta has outranked several European finance jurisdictions and has seen itself classified as one of the least risky jurisdictions in terms of risk of money laundering and terrorist financing around the world. The Basel AML Index is an independent annual ranking and focuses on anti-money laundering […]

Malta’s Budget for 2019 forecasting further economic growth

Malta’s Minister for Finance the Hon. Prof. Edward Scicluna yesterday presented the House of Representatives in Malta with the Budget for 2019. In the budget document presented to the House it was reported that during 2018 real economic activity in Malta continued to report robust growth with real growth reported at 5.4%. Amongst the highest […]

Malta establishing itself as a leader in the maritime industry

Malta’s Minister for Transport, Infrastructures and Capital Projects Ian Borg recently announced that over 800 yachts of over 24 meters have been registered under the Maltese flag. Dr. Borg further confirmed that the register had grown more than 10 per cent from the previous year. This would confirm what many analysts have been insisting; namely […]

S&P gives Malta a positive outlook

Standard and Poor’s has affirmed Malta’s ‘A-/A-2’ ratings with a positive outlook. In it’s report S&P acknowledged the consolidation of government finances, reduced general government debt relative to GDP and structural reforms. The positive rating reflects Malta’s strong growth performance, the recurring current account surpluses by Malta’s large services exports and the improving general government […]

Mounting concern over Italy’s budget

The government’s budget plans for 2019 in Italy are causing concern and have sparked a sell-off of state bonds. The Italian government offered a budget with a deficit of 2.4 per cent of GDP for the next three years. Concern has thus mounted that this budget not only puts Italy on a collision course with […]

“Malta’s financial services industry has registered sustained growth”

“Malta’s financial services industry has registered sustained growth in the overall ecosystem. This growth in the industry came from increases in investment services, insurance operations, retirement schemes, trusts, securitisations, new fund licenses and financial institutions with year on year growth rates ranging from 5 to 17 per cent. Furthermore, last year Malta saw a total […]

US at risk of landing on Tax Blacklist

The US is at risk of landing on the European Union’s tax haven blacklist if it does not agree to exchange the bank account details of non-US citizens with governments around the world by June 2019. This would be the result of the US failing to meet the 2019 deadline of adopting the OECD’s Common […]

Malta’s ‘A’ rating reaffirmed by S&P

Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings has confirmed Malta’s credit rating at A, maintaining the outlook for the country as positive. Furthermore S&P highlighted that it “could raise the ratings on Malta over the next 18 months”. S&P further explained that , “Our ratings on Malta are suporter by its strong growth performance coupled with consistent […]

2017 another year of growth for Maltese Financial Services

Data published by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has revealed that 2017 was another year of growth for the Financial Services sector in Malta with the issuance of various licenses and authorisations including in the areas of insurance, investment services, investment funds and trusts. At the end of 2017 the MFSA had 63 entities […]

War Chest to address STEP Italy event in Treviso

War Chest’s Corporate Administrator Dr. Angelo Micallef shall be one of the guest speakers at an event organised by STEP Italy in Treviso on Tuesday March 6th. The event shall have as its central theme Fondazioni Maltesi di diritto privato: profili civilistici e fiscali (Maltese Private Foundations: Legal and Fiscal aspects). Dr. Micallef shall be […]