Fund Management

Under Maltese law, Investment Services are regulated by the Investment Services Act (ISA), which establishes the regulatory framework for two types of licences namely Investment Services Licences and Collective Investment Schemes Licences. By means of the ISA, the provision of an Investment Service in or from Malta is a licensable activity and as such the necessary application forms and supporting documentation need to be submitted to the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) and subsequently accepted in order for a company to provide Investment Services.

The application process is commonly broken up into three phases. In the build up to applying for a licence, discussions are held with the MFSA and a draft Licence Application Form, together with supporting documentation, is submitted for prior approval. The time taken to complete the entire application process depends on the completeness of an application’s documentation, which primarily concerns the first stage. Stages two and three normally take between six to twelve weeks to be completed.

A Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) may be set up as a:

• SICAV (investment company with variable share capital, i.e., open-ended fund);
• Investment company with fixed share capital, i.e., closed-ended fund);
• Mutual Fund;
• Investment Partnership;
• Unit Trust

Collective Investment Schemes also include Professional Investor Funds (PIFs). A PIF may be set up as an incorporated open or closed-ended investment company – in the form of a SICAV or INVCO, or a limited partnership or a unit trust. The PIF regime consists of three categories:

• PIFs promoted to Experienced Investors (or Experienced Investor Funds);
• PIFs promoted to Qualifying Investors (or Qualifying Investor Funds); and
• PIFs promoted to Extraordinary Investors (or Extraordinary Investor Funds).