Malta's financial services sector made up 11 per cent of the national economy in 2017, the financial regulator said in its annual report for the year. 

The Malta Financial Services Authority report also found that financial services and insurance continue account for over 90 per cent of Foreign Direct Investment into Malta.

Licence holders continued to increase and now number 2,180, with numbers up by 360 over the past three years.  

Incoming MFSA CEO Joseph Cuschieri said the authority was investing "significant resources" to strengthen its due diligence processes at both pre- and post-licensing stages, and that the financial regulator was keeping a keen eye on developments in the fintech, blockchain and other digital innovation spheres. 

Some other key numbers from 2017: 

  • 97 new investment funds opened, bumping the net aggregate value of locally-based funds up to €10.6 billion - a 7.8 per cent increase from 2016;

  • Six new financial institutions set up shop locally, taking the total to 48;

  • 5,297 new companies and 109 new partnerships, bringing the total up to 84,503;

  • More than 100 companies transferred their domicile to Malta.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.