Confidence but not complacency is essential to deliver on Malta’s potential

By George Vella, Chairman of FinanceMalta

This year the FinanceMalta Annual Conference had more delegates and sponsors than ever before and the buzz in the room was palpable.

There are many reasons to be optimistic about the future for financial services in Malta. Speakers and delegates at the event pointed to the strong economic fundamentals, presence of a talented and dedicated workforce, and the continued commitment to encouraging and actively supporting innovation as central to Malta’s appeal. Confidence has also been buoyed by recent efforts overseen by the Malta Financial Services Advisory Council (MFSAC), which has been relentless in undertaking a series of strategic initiatives to deliver material improvements in areas ranging from Malta’s family office to insurance offerings and stands to yield yet more benefit with upcoming milestones expected in areas including aircraft leasing and centralised identity management.

And yet, if we want to sustain this progress and deliver on Malta’s full potential, we cannot allow ourselves to be complacent. As the Minister for Finance Clyde Caruana clearly stated when he addressed delegates this week, now is in fact the time to “redouble our efforts” when it comes to the sector. This is essential in ensuring that we can take advantage of the opportunities in front of us and both keep pace with, and fully capitalise on, the rapidly evolving tech landscape.

Malta prides itself on its reputation for being a nimble and agile jurisdiction. These qualities position us well to navigate highly fluid global and sectoral trends. In the past we have demonstrated willingness to act as first movers, whether in developing regulatory frameworks, where Malta was the first country in Europe to provide a regulatory framework for crypto-asset service providers (CASPs); creating necessary supporting infrastructure, such as the first national tech authority in Europe in 2017; or engineering unique offerings for sub-sectors such as insurance. Malta is the only full EU member state with Protected Cell Company (PCC) legislation, which was introduced back in 2004.

Equally important is building on our efforts to date to ensure collaboration remains at the heart of such endeavours. There can be no doubt that Malta’s future progress depends on strong alignment between industry, regulators and government. Here I am excited by the role FinanceMalta can continue to play in bringing people and organisations together, both in Malta and across the globe, to capitalise on areas of strategic opportunity for the country.

As this year’s conference concludes we have every reason to be confident that there is a bright future ahead for the country’s financial services sector, but we must move quickly and work collaboratively if we are serious about turning aspiration into reality and raising the contribution of the sector to the economy from around €2 billion to more than double that by 2035.