Malta: Corporate/Commercial Law

As its European customer base continued to expand, a US-based distributor of industrial equipment found that its existing business model was no longer suited to its long-term growth ambitions.

Malta’s corporate tax regime is designed to support international businesses, offering a compliant and flexible framework for companies operating across borders.

Malta's Competition Authority has published its response to public consultation on proposed reforms to merger control regulations, introducing revised turnover thresholds and new call-in powers.

The Malta Financial Services Authority has introduced significant amendments to its Investment Services Rules affecting firms offering contracts for difference and rolling spot forex contracts. These changes streamline authorisation requirements, align capital thresholds with EU frameworks, and recalibrate governance expectations while removing certain prescriptive obligations that have been superseded by broader European legislation.

Malta's 2026 reforms replace the traditional guardianship framework with a modern system of personal autonomy safeguards and support persons. How does this legislative transformation balance the protection of vulnerable adults with respect for individual autonomy, and what mechanisms ensure that support arrangements remain proportionate to each person's circumstances?

Malta has established its first Notified Professional Investor Fund under the Single Family Office Exempt Manager Framework, offering family offices a proportionate regulatory pathway that balances efficient wealth structuring with appropriate oversight. The framework provides an alternative to institutional fund manager requirements, enabling single family offices to manage private wealth through NPIFs with governance structures suited to their scale and operations.

The European Union has evolved its Capital Markets Union into a more ambitious Savings and Investments Union, aiming to unlock €11 trillion in household savings while addressing a critical mismatch between abundant European savings and insufficient productive investment.

As its European customer base continued to expand, a US-based distributor of industrial equipment found that its existing business model was no longer suited to its long-term growth ambitions.

Malta’s corporate tax regime is designed to support international businesses, offering a compliant and flexible framework for companies operating across borders.

High-net-worth individuals and family offices are increasingly turning to Maltese personal investment companies to consolidate diverse portfolios spanning traditional assets, real estate, and digital holdings. This article explores how Malta's EU membership, extensive tax treaty network, and robust legal framework make it an attractive jurisdiction for structuring private wealth through corporate vehicles that offer enhanced governance, tax optimization, and simplified administration.

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.

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.