Tonio Fenech eyes double-taxation agreements with South America, Gulf areas

Fenech was addressing this morning the launch of the Managed Insurance Company Survey Results by the recently-set-up Malta Insurance Management Association (MIMA), which represents Maltese insurance managers.

In this respect, Fenech announced that there had already been some preliminary contacts with the four Gulf States which had been visited by a business delegation led Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi between 9 and 13 April 2010.

In fact, Gonzi had visited Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Moreover, Fenech was also eyeing to sign a DTT with Brazil and Paraguay.

Asked by MaltaToday about the number of number of taxation agreement that Malta had signed with other countries, Fenech explained that Malta had signed more than 50 DTT agreements with various jurisdictions all across the world.

Fenech explained that ever since Malta joined the EU in 2004, the number of people employed in the insurance sector increased from 400 to 1,000 this year.

He insisted that prior to EU accession, Malta’s insurance market was an isolated one which catered only for the 400,000 Maltese population.  However, thanks to EU Membership, Malta’s insurance industry had widened its horizons and was offering its services to EU jurisdictions and beyond.

In fact, he announced how the demand from the insurance industry for more trained insurance practitioners led the University of Malta to recently offer a degree in insurance.

Presenting the survey results for this year, MIMA President Evander M Borg explained how the annual gross premia written by MIMA’s 31 members rose from €512.5 million in 2009 to €670.2 million in 2010, an increase of 33%.

In 2010 the number of licenced international insurers operating in Malta rose to 41 from 39 last year. The number of third-party writers (which are not tied to any specific insurance company) rose by 2 from 22 last year to 24 in 2010, the number of cells rose by 1 from 7 last year to 8 in 2010, while the number of insurers that were to a specific insurance company remained stable in 2010 at 9.

Protected cell companies legislation was passed by Malta in 2004 and the law allows the setting up of protected cell insurance companies and of cells within such companies.

Each cell might be managed separately and assets attributed to such cells would constitute a segregated patrimony from the other cell, meaning that each insurance cell is ring-fenced in case of operational difficulties.

Malta was only one of two jurisdictions in the world that allowed for protected cell companies.

The amount of tax paid in Malta by MIMA members rose from €20.6 million in 2009 to €45.4 million, an increase of more than 100% over the previous year.

The MIMA survey also showed that the total amount of cash and investments managed by member companies rose by 20% over the past year, from €882.9 million in 2009 to almost €1.1 billion in 2010.

Finally, the amount of full-time staff employed by insurance management companies rose by 5 from 85 in 2009 to 90 this year, while the amount of part-time employees in this sector decreased by 15 from 35 in 2009 to 25 this year.