Number of companies in Malta soar to 70,000

The number of companies registered in Malta has now exceeded the 70,000 mark, with around 30% of these having been registered during the last five years, finance minister Edward Scicluna said.

The minister explained that company registrations in Malta have increased by around 12% every year, and said that this can be a seen as a direct result of the success of the Companies Act.

“The importance of the Companies Act cannot be underestimated. A large proportion of the commercial activity in our community is carried out through the medium of the limited liability company.”

“We continuously deal with companies in our daily lives even if we may not think too much about this reality. That is enough reason why we should make sure that the Companies Act is regularly upgraded and modernised so as to keep it in line with the needs of the business sector and those who provide finance and credit to companies,” Scicluna said during a half-day conference marking the 20th anniversary since the Companies Act was enacted.

The finance minister also hailed the recent legislation on company service providers, pointing out that the benefit of limited liability for shareholders brings with it the legal obligations of disclosure by companies.

Scicluna also mentioned the ongoing work to transpose the EU’s Single Accounting Directive in Malta’s laws, with a focus of finding an appropriate accounting framework for the smaller entities, keeping in mind Malta’s market and business realities. However, he said that this reality brings its own challenges as this would mean that the Maltese registry of companies and the courts would have to deal with more cases in the future.