Malta’s pro-business regulatory environment coupled with a wide network of Double Taxation Agreements and European passport rights, introduced with Malta’s accession to the EU, has led to a huge growth in Malta’s insurance sector. The latter is mainly regulated by two main pieces of legislation, these being the Insurance Business Act (Chapter 403 of the Laws of Malta) and the Insurance Intermediaries Act (Chapter 487 of the Laws of Malta). These are complemented by a number of Insurance Directives, Rules and Regulations issued by the MFSA, such as the Reinsurance Special Purpose Vehicles Regulations implemented in 2013. The latter provides for the establishment and supervision of catastrophe bond issuers and sidecars, both of which may be set up as Maltese tax neutral vehicles. Malta also ensures a stable and consistent regulatory approach when providing insurance licenses, owing to the fact that they are governed by the MFSA; the Maltese single regulator responsible for the entire financial market.
Furthermore, Malta is the only full European Member State regulating Protected Cell Companies. PCCs are particularly useful for those medium-sized companies seeking to establish their own insurance vehicles, provided that PCCs allow the spreading of risks, without jeopardizing the assets of any other individual cell owner.