Citizenship sale to be launched in London in November

Financial services practitioners have been briefed by the new government agency Identity Malta on becoming agents for the Individual Investor Programme's concessionaire, Henley & Partners.

Henley will be the IIP's chief promoter and exclusively licensed to introduce candidates for the €650,000 'golden passport' programme being administered by Identity Malta. Its licensed agencies will be carrying out due diligence studies on the candidates.

The IIP will sell Maltese citizenship for €650,000. [READ MORE]

All service providers currently approved by the Malta Financial and Services Authority to act as mandatories for the Global Residence Programme, another scheme that offers residence to property buyers, will initially qualify as IIP agents.

The criteria on selecting the other agents are still being determined, Henley chairman Hugh Morshead told providers.

The IIP will be launched next month in London, with the programme becoming fully operational by early 2014.

Morshead said Henley and Identity Malta were committed to and obliged under their service concession to keep very high standards. "Citizenship is a very sensitive and complex matter and Malta's reputation needs to be safeguarded...  Malta must attract the right investors who bring their expertise and experience and help the local economy grow and create new job opportunities."