Malta's Insurance and Pensions Sectors: Building Resilience Through Reform

The Malta Financial Services Advisory Council (MFSAC) strategy, launched in March 2023, has reached approximately  66% completion as of October 2025, marking significant progressin the overhaul of Malta's financial services sector.

Few sectors illustrate this momentum better than insurance and pensions, where legislative reform and strategic engagement are delivering real results.

Malta’s insurance sector already has strong foundations. The jurisdiction is recognised for robust regulation, competitive operating costs, and innovative structures like Protected and Incorporated Cell Companies, with a number of Fortune 100 companies’ captive firms domiciled in the jurisdiction.

The MFSAC's Insurance workstream has built further on these strengths and is now essentially complete. A comprehensive legislative package covering Transfer of Cells, Cell Winding Up, and Insolvency has been enacted into law, providing greater legal certainty for cell company operations. Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) and Reinsurance Special Purpose Vehicle (RSPV) training has been delivered to regulators, with industry sessions pending. These developments solidify Malta’s standing as a respected, innovative jurisdiction capable of supporting increasingly sophisticated insurance offerings.

The Pensions workstream, meanwhile, addresses one of Malta's most pressing challenges. Local pension participation remains low, with only approximately 2% of eligible citizens aged 18–60 enrolled in private schemes. The Government’s announcement in June 2025 of a “Proposal for Auto Enrolment - Occupational Pension Scheme” marks a landmark response. Key features include mandatory automatic enrolment with opt-out provisions, voluntary employer contributions with government matching for the public sector, cost capping and transparency measures, enhanced portability, and digital access.

The MFSAC has provided comprehensive feedback on the proposal, engaging extensively with the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), unions, employers, and insurance firms. This collaborative approach is shaping a workable framework designed to foster greater participation from providers and employers, encourage long-term savings, and relieve pressure on the State pension.

Looking ahead, these reforms promise to further strengthen Malta’s insurance and pensions sectors, contributing to the country’s strategic objective of becoming a truly specialised and competitive financial services centre.

This is the third part in our series focused on the MFSAC interim report. Each week, we conduct a deep dive on a different sector and the progress made since the Financial Services Strategy was launched in 2023.