Malta Rules – Highwire Extensions

Introduction to Malta Investment Rules

There were 566 CIS established in Malta as at June 2020.

This included:

Click on the links above for more details on each fund type.

For more details on numbers and types of funds, see below.

AIFs and retail Non-UCITS operate under the AIFMD Directive.

The most popular fund type in Malta is the Professional Investor Fund (PIF), which is a hedge fund product. The PIF is highly flexible and there are generally no asset eligibility rules, investment rules and no leverage or borrowing requirements. Importantly, they fall below the AIFMD threshold criteria.

For more on PIFs click here.

For more details of PIFs Vs AIFMD, click here.

FUND STRUCTURES

Malta permits funds to be established as Companies, Limited Partnerships, Unit trusts, Foundations; or Contractual funds. The company SICAV structure is the most common and offers the most flexibility.

A SICAV can be established as a:

Multi-class SICAV – this is a standalone fund with multiple unsegregated classes.
Multi-fund SICAV – this is an umbrella form with multiple sub-funds with a choice as to whether or not to have legal segregation between sub-funds.

Each fund type can be externally managed or self-managed (although additional requirements apply for self-managed funds).

For more on Malta FUND Structures, click here.

THE REGULATOR

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) is the single regulator of all financial services in Malta.

LEGISLATION AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

For full details of the legislation and regulatory framework, particularly as regards different investment restrictions for different fund types, click here.

In Malta, the primary law and regulations regulating collective investment schemes are:

The Investment Services Act (ISA), and its subsidiary legislation, is the principal legislative enactment governing the fund industry in Malta.
The Investment Services Rules issued by the MFSA.

Each class of fund has its own dedicated Malta Financial Services Act Rulebook.

Also, whilst the PIF is highly flexible and with generally no asset eligibility or investment rules, there are investment restriction in relation to PIFs targeting Experienced investors. For an overview of PIFs, click here.

Also, the MFSA has also issued guidance notes on different types of PIF and AIF structures, with investment rules for each, including property funds, money market funds, private equity funds; loan funds; and shariah-compliant funds..

PRESCRIBED FUNDS

For tax purposes, collective investment schemes are classified under Maltese tax legislation as either “prescribed” or “non-prescribed” funds. This applies at the sub-fund level.

A prescribed fund is an investment scheme which has declared to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue in Malta that the value of its assets situated in Malta amounts to at least 85% of the value of the total assets of the fund.

For more details click here.

MALTA – BREAKDOWN OF FUND TYPES – PER MSFA

		June 2020
		Total licences as at end June 2020
AIFs	Schemes	62
	Sub-funds	118
	of which Qualifying Investor	55
	of which Extraordinary Investor	5
	of which Experienced Investor	2
	of which Professional Investor	51
	of which Retail Investor	5
PIFs	Schemes	150
	Sub-funds	328
	of which Qualifying Investor	289
	of which Extraordinary Investor	26
	of which Experienced Investor	13
UCITS	Schemes	33
UCITS	Sub-funds	107
Retail Non-UCITS	Schemes	3
Retail Non-UCITS	Sub-funds	5
Recognised Private CIS	Schemes	8
Recognised Private CIS	Sub-funds	8

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