Malta Residence & Wealth Planning Seminar, London

The Malta Residence, Citizenship & Wealth Planning Seminar will treat the programmes provided under Maltese law for individuals and families to take up residence in Malta, including the Global Residence Program, the Retirement Programme and Malta's Citizenship-by-Investment Program. The seminar will also deal with the opportunities for structuring wealth using Malta.

The seminar, be held on Tuesday 26 of November 2013 at the Malta House in Piccadilly, this breakfast briefing will be led by Dr Jean-Philippe Chetcuti, a leading tax and immigration law specialist.

Event Programme:

0900 - Registration and Breakfast

0930 - Presentation on Maltese Immigration Programmes

1015 - Registration and Coffee

1030 - Presentation on Wealth Management Using Malta

1115 - Q&A Session

1130 - Coffee

Venue

Malta High Commission

Malta House

36-38 Piccadilly

London W1J 0LE

Limited space is available so early reservations are advisable.


Wealth Planning using Malta

Malta offers a number of opportunities for the structuring and management of wealth using Maltese trusts or Malta Companies. More about Using Malta Companies in International Tax Planning.

Malta Global Residence Programme

The Malta Global Residence Program (GRP) allows non-EU nationals to obtain a permanent residence permit on the basis of an investment in or rental of property in Malta. As residence non-doms, residence permit holders benefit from Malta's remittance basis of taxation and special tax status taxable at a flat rate of 15% tax on remitted income only.

Malta's Citizenship-by-Investment Program

The Individual Investor Program (IIP) allows good standing individuals and families to acquire Maltese citizenship on basis of a contribution to the National Development Fund.

Classification of Binary Options Service Providers as Category 2 Investment Services Providers

There has been some debate recently within the industry as to whether a binary options business may be classified as a Category 2 investment services provider. Circulars previously issued by the MFSA had seemed to suggest that such businesses would be deemed to be Category 3 investment services providers, irrespective of the exact activities performed by the operator i.e. whether or not the operator bore the risk of the transactions by taking the opposite side of the order. Of course this is not ideal, as it means that businesses which are relatively low risk intermediaries would need to adhere to capital and reporting requirements designed for higher risk operators.

Further to discussions with the regulator, it has become clearer that if the operator is acting as a "riskless principal", essentially receiving and transmitting orders in a manner similar to that of a Forex STP Broker, then the operator may be classified as a Category 2 investment services provider. This is a welcome and sensible development. It should be noted however that in such cases the Category 2 investment services providers would be expected to route orders through to another regulated entity.

Having said the above, it should be noted that the sector is still in its infancy in Malta and prospective applicants are encouraged to discuss their ideas openly in order to determine the correct regulatory classification.

You are read our detailed Malta Binary Options publication here:

http://www.ccmalta.com/publications/malta_binary_options

Dr Charles Cassar
Chetcuti Cauchi Advocates