Political uncertainty regarding the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit) continues to reign and a “No-Deal” exit scenario is looking more likely. In a bid to address the uncertainty faced by UK financial services firms, the Maltese government has released three legal notices for UK Investment Firms and Fund Managers that are exercising European passport rights into Malta. The Legal Notices detail the granting of temporary permissions to such entities for a specified period and their legal and regulatory status following the lapse of such timeframe.
UK based UCITS management companies, investment firms and AIFMS exercising passporting rights into Malta shall be granted a temporary permission to continue to be able to exercise such rights provided that these entities would already have been exercising a European right to provide such services into Malta prior to the date on which the UK leaves the European Union without a withdrawal deal. Furthermore, such entities shall only be permitted toservice those contracts that were entered into with clients by not later than 30 September 2019.
The MFSA shall shortly be releasing a notification form which is to be used by such firms for confirmation of application to such temporary permission regime. Such form must be submitted to the MFSA by not later than three weeks from the no-deal Brexit date. The temporary permissions granted shall be valid until the 31st March 2020; following this date such entities shall be deemed to no longer benefit from passporting rights and will be required to obtain the respective licence under the Maltese Investment Services Act.
This article was written by Dr Cherise Abela Grech and Dr Luke Mizzi.
For more information on Investment Services Regulation and the possible implications of Brexit on Maltese licensees, please contact Dr Ian Gauci on igauci@gtgadvocates.com, Dr Cherise Abela Grech on cabelagrech@gtgadvocates.com and Dr Luke Mizzi on lmizzi@gtgadvocates.com
This article is not intended to impart legal advice and readers are asked to seek verification of statements made before acting on them.