Family Offices & Private Wealth
Malta’s strengths as a wealth management centre lie in its holistic offering that caters for a wide spectrum of needs, including succession planning, investment advisory, corporate structuring, investment banking and even lifestyle administration.
KPI Section
PRIVATE WEALTH IN MALTA
Malta continues to be an attractive domicile for investors, family offices and financial entities seeking a dynamic European base that is professional, practical, safe and cost effective.
Hedge funds, private equity, and real estate– Malta offers all the favourite investment vehicles of high-net-worth individuals and families, while the EU member state allows investors to protect their assets through the establishment of trusts or foundations.
Malta’s strengths as a wealth management centre lie in its holistic offering that caters to a wide spectrum of needs, including succession planning, investment advisory, corporate structuring, investment banking and even lifestyle administration.
The Malta trust, combining all the features of the Anglo-Saxon trust concept within a civil law framework, has quickly become the preferred vehicle for professionals and high-net-worth individuals seeking an effective and trustworthy solution to wealth management issues. Trusts have been set up in Malta to safeguard everything from heirlooms to stocks, bonds, art, and real estate. Recently, the island modernised its trust law to bring it in line with international trends and rival trust jurisdictions, ensuring that Malta remains one of the ‘go-to’ names for those in search of wealth management solutions. Private bankers and asset managers cater to all levels of wealth from the mass affluent to the ultra-high-net-worth individual. A wide range of investment vehicles is available – from simple trusts and company structures for families to high value and more complex set-ups involving trusts, companies, investment funds and foundations for affluent clients.
Why Malta for Private Wealth Guide | 2023 Edition
Private Wealth – Our Sector at a Glance
Discover our wealth management offering and find out how Malta can support high-net-worth-individuals and families.
- Service Diversity
As family offices and wealth managers are increasingly turning to outsourcing in an effort to achieve sustainable profit generation, the role that third-party advisers and administrative partners can play has rapidly grown. Against this backdrop, Malta is emerging as a relevant outsourcing partner for single or multiple back-office services.
Our wealth management sector caters to a wide spectrum of needs, including succession planning, investment advisory, corporate structuring, and even lifestyle administration. Our service providers and wealth managers have a proven track record in structuring customised solutions. While we have built up strategic partnerships with family offices elsewhere, we are also home to a select number of family and multi-family offices, which are finding Malta a compelling alternative to traditional wealth management centres and have transferred all or part of their operations to the island. A key attraction of Malta for the structuring, holding and managing of client’s assets for international wealth planners and advisers is the island’s lower cost-base. Salaries and other operational costs are 20 to 30 per cent lower than in the traditional wealth management centres.
- Trusts & Foundations
Malta is one of the few jurisdictions where both trusts and foundations can be set up. Both structures allow the creation of customised solutions that will fit the most diverse personal and business needs, ranging from succession planning to estate management. The Malta trust combines all the features of the Anglo-Saxon trust concept within a civil law framework. Trusts have been set up in Malta to safeguard everything from heirlooms to stocks, bonds, art, and real estate. Malta’s legislation recognises all other jurisdictions and offers clients the option to have the trust regulated by the jurisdiction of the clients’ choice.
It is also possible to establish a Private Trust Company (PTC), which offers interesting opportunities to high-net-worth-individuals and families who favour tailor-made trustee solutions. Foundations can be used in most cases where a trust or a company could be set up, with the most common structures having a wealth planning and philanthropic background. The skills and the knowledge we have built up in this industry over the past decades will help us to continuously improve our offering.
- Investment Funds & Digital Assets
Malta has long been an established jurisdiction for alternative investment funds. In the wealth management space, our framework for Professional Investor Funds (PIFs) is designed to attract high-net-worth investors. Hedge funds, private equity funds and property funds are also normally structured as PIFs. Asset management companies in Malta have launched fund platforms which are exclusively open to family offices and third-party managers to provide them with an efficient and cost-effective solution to enter the market.
High-net-worth individuals are also beginning to show interest in digital assets, including investing in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and holding cryptocurrencies. The digital asset ecosystem is complex and rapidly evolving, and there are conflicting views on its value for the wealth management sector. However, many are optimistic that technologies and tools such as blockchain, IoT, VR and AR will lead to efficiencies in enterprise operations. Due to our support for digital finance and new technologies, wealth managers and investors should have Malta on their radar to make the most of emerging opportunities.
- Alternative Assets & Investment Options
Malta is a competitive location for luxury asset management. A strategic port of call for superyachts crossing the Mediterranean, the introduction of extensive VAT incentives for the registration of yachts under the Malta flag and the excellent infrastructure of the country’s marinas make Malta a logical choice to base a yacht. Malta also offers attractive solutions to purchase and manage aircraft and has developed a strong legislative framework that has paved the way for the easy registration of private jets.
In addition, Malta is positioning itself as an attractive place for high-net-worth-individuals to reside. The island boasts a collection of prestigious residential homes, which can be purchased for future occupancy or as an investment. Malta offers various routes to entrepreneurs, investors and highly qualified employees to relocate themselves and their families to Malta and seek integration into a thriving, cosmopolitan community.
Malta offers investors a secure and transparent environment in which to start or expand a business
Fund managers and promoters regularly comment on the high level of product flexibility that the island offers.
Multi-disciplined advisors able to adapt to the changing needs of HNWIs
Fast-track authorisation for Professional Investor Funds (PIFs)
The PIF licence is the licence of choice for smaller funds, which would benefit from certain exemptions contained in the AIFMD.
Flexible investment structures (SICAVs, trusts, partnerships, etc.)
Maltese-registered funds can be set up in a number of possible legal forms, including open-ended and closed-ended corporate entities, unit trusts, contractual funds, and limited partnerships.
Recognition of foreign trusts
Malta’s trust law allows settlors to establish trusts governed by a foreign law, and foreign trusts are fully recognised.
Offering the set up of both trusts and foundations
While trusts are particular to systems of law based on common law and are not generally found in civil law countries, Malta, a civil law country, is an exception to this rule.
Dedicated legislation for blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies
The island has rolled out the world’s first holistic regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs).