There were several important legislative changes which were published over the course of August 2025. Below is an overview of the key updates across different areas.
One pivotal Act was published in August – the Various Financial Services Laws (Amendment No. 2) Act, 2025. This introduced a number of amendments to the Trust and Trustees Act, the Financial Markets Act, the Investment Services Act and the Banking Act. The scope of this Act is to partially transpose the provisions of Directive (EU) 2024/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 February 2024 amending Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments, Directive (EU) 2017/828 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017 amending Directive 2007/36/EC as regards the encouragement of long-term shareholder engagement, Directive (EU) 2023/2864 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2023 amending certain Directives as regards the establishment and functioning of the European single access point and Directive (EU) 2019/2034 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on the prudential supervision of investment firms and amending Directives 2002/87/EC, 2009/65/EC, 2011/61/EU, 2013/36/EU, 2014/59/EU and 2014/65/EU, and to make other amendments to various financial services laws.
In parallel, important provisions of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2025 came into force on the 7th August 2025. The recently implemented changes to the Companies Act, Chapter 356 of the laws of Malta, include new provisions on the granting of shares subject to usufruct and the rights of usufructuaries and the pledging of securities. In this regard, the MBR’s User Guidelines seek to guide companies, their officers and all stakeholders involved throughout the process.
In addition to the legal notices mentioned in our previous legal update for July 2025, on the 29th August 2025, the Immovable Property Price Index was published with the immovable property price index being provisionally set at 269.31 on the 1st April, 2025, increasing 5.7 per cent from 2024.
Additionally, on the 19th August 2025, the Control of the Sale and Distribution of Tickets and Promotional Material from Public Spaces Regulations, 2025 were published. The scope of these regulations is to regulate the conduct of any person who sells, distributes or allows the sale and distribution of tickets and promotional material for commercial purposes in order to eliminate unlicensed advertising in spaces which are public or accessible to the public.
Furthermore, a series of new regulations was published revising Malta’s immigration framework. The Fees payable for Residence Permits and Employment Licences Regulations, 2025 introduced updated fees for residence permits and employment licences, while the Identity Documents (Fees) Regulations, 2025 repealed and replaced the previous fee framework for identity documents. The Fees (Passport) (Amendment) Regulations, 2025 amended the applicable schedule to update passport fees, and the Long-stay Visa Fees (Amendment) Regulations, 2025 revised fees relating to long-stay visa applications. In addition, the Immigration Appeals Board (Procedure) Regulations, 2025 introduced a standardised appeals form and the permission of the online submission of appeals, while the Immigration Appeals Board (Division) (Amendment) Regulations, 2025, now enables the Minister to determine the number of divisions of the Board depending on case load, with at least one division to operate full-time.
At a European level, the European Commission disbursed a total of €42.8 billion to five Member States – Italy, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta, and Spain – under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU. The disbursements are part of the Commission’s efforts to support the economic growth and resilience of EU Member States and are based on the successful steps in the implementation of reforms and investments outlined in each country’s recovery and resilience plan. Further to this, the European Commission launched a Call for Evidence and a public consultation to seek input on the scope and content of its revision of the Guidelines on State aid for rescuing and restructuring non-financial undertakings in difficulty (‘Rescue and Restructuring Guidelines’). This input will be used to update the Guidelines to ensure that they remain fit to meet their objectives.
On the 1st August 2025, the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) published the new quarterly liquidity assessment of bonds available for trading on EU trading venues. For this period, there are currently 1,346 liquid bonds subject to MiFID II transparency requirements. Later on during the month, on the 20th August 2025, ESMA and the European Environment Agency (“EEA”) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) whose purpose is to strengthen cooperation in sustainable finance. The MoU focuses on environmental factors and their integration in the EU sustainable finance framework, including the supervision of the framework.
Locally, the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (“FIAU”) highlighted that a five-year compliance monitoring plan was developed, the implementation of which started in July 2024. The plan aims to effectively monitor the mitigation of the identified ML/FT risks, through proportionate supervisory interventions. The FIAU’s AML/CFT supervisory priorities for 2025 – 2026 are available here. Additionally, on the 27th August 2025, an article examining how AML/CFT enforcement is reshaping the financial sector was published. The article highlights that AML/CFT enforcement extends beyond mere penalties, focusing instead on driving sustainable compliance through corrective actions that strengthen controls, governance, and risk culture. Bottom of Form
The Malta Tax and Customs Administration (“MTCA”) announced that as part of its ongoing facilitation process, economic operators will no longer be required to purchase the Merchant’s Request (Form 12). The Form 12 is available for free download with an aim to simplify procedures and improve service accessibility.
In the financial regulation sphere, the Malta Financial Services Authority (“MFSA”) published a Circular addressed to market participants, particularly users of benchmarks falling within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on indices, used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts or to measure the performance of investment funds. Additionally, the MFSA issued a Circular outlining amendments to the Investment Services Rulebooks to reflect updates implementing the ESMA Guidelines on stress test scenarios under the MMF Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2017/1131). The amendments to the Rulebooks are outlined in the Annex attached to this circular, available here.
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