Malta’s financial services strategy pivots to market capture after three years of groundwork

The Malta Financial Services Advisory Council is moving its national financial services strategy into a new phase focused on market capture and competitiveness. Programme Office head Pier Massa described the shift as a transition rather than a conclusion, with the foundation built over the past three years now being put to commercial use.

Around 70% of the strategy's 79 projects have been delivered or are well advanced. That includes the Malta Business Wallet, a harmonised regulatory reporting framework that eliminated roughly 9,000 data points, and new legal frameworks for family offices and aircraft leasing.

“As we move forward, I talk more about market capture,” Massa said in comments given to Campus FM’s Business Frontiers. “How we translate the infrastructural investments that we've made into actually attracting foreign investment into the island... faster settlements, faster onboarding, simpler processes, less bureaucratic processes.”

The strategy refresh is being informed by the World Bank's Business Ready 2025 report. Massa noted that while Malta performs above global averages and is classified as an OECD high-income economy, it only achieves mid-tier quintile rankings. In financial services, the country scores well on regulatory completeness but falls below EU averages due to operational friction, fragmented processes, and repeated data requirements.

“When you look at this very detailed analysis of where we deliver and where we don't, that's a very good indicator of where the friction is from an ease of doing business perspective,” Massa said. “Our objective is for Malta to be a top quartile financial services jurisdiction.”

MFSAC is stepping up direct engagement with market participants. The Programme Office has been meeting managing partners of leading legal and accounting firms, as well as CEOs of foreign direct investment companies, to identify barriers and opportunities.

The governance structure includes 15 working groups and roughly 30 stakeholders in regular review sessions. Massa warned that visible progress is essential to sustain momentum. “If you don't show progress... people will get tired and the strategy won't go anywhere.”

Looking ahead, Massa positioned Malta as a potential model for European competitiveness. “Europe is very determined to be much more competitive. Malta can be a very good example of how you can be much more entrepreneurial, much more agile, and much more fluid in building a competence to be able to build a business.”

He also highlighted the collaborative nature of the effort. “This exercise is showing that we can work together as private firms, government and regulators. The more we build our confidence in that area, the more likely we will be successful in delivering the strategy.”

The test now is whether the institutional and regulatory work of the past three years can translate into measurable gains in investment attraction and ease of doing business. The direction is clear: from building the system to winning in the market.