On 10th July 2026, the Companies Act (Register of Beneficial Owners) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 were published by virtue of Legal Notice 184 of 2026, which Regulations entered into effect immediately. Aimed at bringing the current Maltese beneficial ownership regime more in line with the latest EU AML legislation, these Regulations have introduced a number of meaningful updates to the current regime.
The main changes introduced to the Maltese beneficial ownership regime in terms of the Regulations are twofold. Firstly, the Regulations have expanded on the rules relating to access to the beneficial ownership information held by the Malta Business Registry, effectively introducing a three-tier level of access. The broadest level of access is that granted to, generally, national and European competent authorities involved in combatting money laundering and terrorist financing, tax authorities and other public bodies, who are entitled to have access to such information in an immediate, unfiltered, direct and free manner, without any restriction and without alerting the relevant company. On a second level, the Malta Business Registry may grant access to such information in a timely manner to obliged entities for the purposes of them carrying out customer due diligence, against the payment of a fee. Lastly, access may be granted to any natural or legal person having a legitimate interest (as expanded upon in the Regulations) in the prevention and combatting of money laundering, its predicate offences or the financing of terrorism. Access in this case shall not be automatic, but upon request being made successfully to the Registrar of Companies.
Secondly, the Regulations have introduced a new statutory form within the suite of beneficial ownership statutory forms already available – the Form BO4. Effectively, in-scope companies are required to complete and submit this form to the Malta Business Registry by not later than 10th January 2027 (a six month transitional period applies) for the purposes of disclosing their beneficial owners. Companies required to complete the Form BO4 are those companies in relation to which the below criteria do not apply:
- all the registered shareholders of the company are natural persons;
- none of the said natural persons act as trustees or in any other fiduciary capacity;
- no natural person who is not already disclosed in the register of members, ultimately owns or controls, whether through ownership or control, more than twenty five (25%) of the voting rights or other ownership interests in the company, or otherwise exercises control over the company through other means; and
- no natural person holds the position of a senior managing official.
Any default in complying with this new regulation in a timely manner will render the company and every officer, shareholder and beneficial owner of that company liable to a penalty of EURO 10,000, as well as a daily penalty of EURO 500. On an ongoing basis, companies which are required to submit the Form BO4 would then be required to comply with all other ongoing filing obligations in terms of the Regulations, such as the Annual Confirmation BO Form.
In relation to companies which do satisfy the abovementioned criteria, no filings are required from their end and it is now clarified that their register of members shall be deemed to constitute their respective register of beneficial owners as required in terms of the Regulations.
As a result of the publication of the Regulations, the other statutory beneficial ownership forms have also been updated and replaced. With effect from 10th July 2026, all companies shall be required to submit their beneficial ownership forms using the newly updated statutory forms.
Should you have any queries on the changes brought about by the Regulations, and whether your company now falls within the scope of the updated beneficial ownership regime and therefore is subject to the relevant reporting obligations in terms of that regime, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
