Captive Review: Malta Focus

For nearly three decades, Malta has been skilfully and diligently developing its financial services sector. The result is that, today, Malta has firmly established itself as a renowned and stable financial services domicile where a growing number of global players have set up shop. Prior to joining the EU in 2004, Malta already had in place a strong legal and regulatory infrastructure that was fully compliant with EU standards. Nevertheless, it was Malta's entry into the EU which triggered a substantial influx of international players establishing themselves in Malta. Gaining access to the EU single market and to 500 million people proved to be instrumental for Malta with the banking, investment ser- vices and insurance sectors experiencing a gradual but steady growth.