Financial Institutions (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024

Suppliment tal-Gazzetta tal-Gvern ta’ Malta, Nru. 21,366, 24 ta’ Diċembru, 2024

L.N. 366 of 2024

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ACT

(CAP. 376)

Financial Institutions (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by article 12 of the

Financial Institutions Act, the Minister responsible for the regulation

of financial services acting on the advice of the Malta Financial

Services Authority, has made the following regulations:-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Financial Citation,

Institutions (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024 and these commencement

regulations shall be read and construed as one with the Financial applicability.

Institutions (Fees) Regulations, hereinafter referred to as the "principal

regulations".

(2) These regulations shall come into force on the 1st of

January 2025.

(3) These regulations shall apply to fees falling due on, or after

the coming into force of these regulations.

Regulation 2 of the principal regulations shall be Substitutes

substituted by the following new regulation

" Interpretation.

2. (1) In these regulations, unless the context

otherwise requires:-

"account information service provider"

means a natural person or company that provides,

regularly or habitually, account information

services;

"Act" means the Financial Institutions Act;

"annual return" means the Audited Annual

Financial Institutions Return submitted to the

competent authority in accordance with the

Financial Institutions Rules;

"average daily outstanding electronic money"

means the average amount of financial liabilities

for the last six (6) calendar months relating to

issued electronic money which is to be calculated

as follows

(a) the daily average amount of

financial liabilities relating to issued

electronic money for each of the last six (6)

calendar months is to be multiplied by the

number of calendar days in each of those

months;

(b) the amounts resulting from the

calculation set out in paragraph (a) shall be

added up; and

(c) the total amount resulting from

the calculation set out in paragraph (b) shall

be divided by the total number of calendar

days forming the six (6) calendar months

referred to in paragraph (a)

Provided that the daily average amount

of financial liabilities relating to issued electronic

money for a calendar month shall be calculated as

follows

(i) the amount of financial liabilities

relating to issued electronic money at the end

of each calendar day of the preceding six (6)

calendar months shall be added up; and

(ii) the amount resulting from the

calculation set out in paragraph (a) shall

divided by the total number of calendar days

forming the calendar months referred to in

the said paragraph;

"Category 1 activities" means any one (1) or

more of the activities listed in items (1), (2), (3),

(5), (6), (7), (8) and (9) of the First Schedule to the

Act;

"Category 2 activities" means any one (1) or

more of the activities listed in items (4) and (10) of

the First Schedule to the Act excluding account

information services;

"competent authority" means the Malta

Financial Services Authority established by the

Malta Financial Services Authority Act;

"European financial institution" means a

legal person authorised by a European regulatory

authority to provide payment services in

accordance with the Payment Services Directive

and, or to issue and, or distribute and, or redeem

electronic money in accordance with the Electronic

Money Directive, or a person registered under the

Payment Services Directive to provide solely

account information services;

"European regulatory authority" means a

body that is in a Member State other than Malta

and is empowered by law to supervise payment

institutions, electronic money institutions and, or

account information service providers;

"financial institution" means a company that

is licensed under the Act to carry out, regularly or

habitually, activities listed under the First Schedule

of the Act, other than account information

services, in or from Malta;

"total assets" means the total assets as

reported in the annual return submitted for the

preceding year;

"total

monetary

value

of

payment

transactions" means the total monetary value of

payment transactions carried out by a financial

institution, other than payment transactions

relating to electronic money issued thereby, where

applicable, as reported in the annual return

submitted for the preceding year.".

(2) Words and expressions used in these

regulations which are also used in the Act, but which are

not herein defined shall have the same meaning as in the

Act.".

Regulation 3 of the principal regulations shall be Substitutes

substituted by the following new regulation

3. (1) Any company that intends to carry

out, regularly or habitually, activities listed under the

First Schedule of the Act in or from Malta, other than

account information services shall, upon submission

of an application to the competent authority for a

licence in accordance with article 4 of the Act, pay to

the competent authority the following application fee,

as applicable, with respect to such application

(a) where such company intends to

carry out any one (1) or more Category 1

activities and, or any one (1) Category 2

activities, ten thousand euro (€10,000);

(b) where such company intends to

carry out both Category 2 activities, fifteen

thousand euro (€15,000); or

(c) where such company intends to

carry out any one (1) or more Category 1

activities and both Category 2 activities, fifteen

thousand euro (€15,000).

(2) Where a financial institution intends to

carry out one (1) or more activities in addition to

those which it is licensed to carry out, it shall upon

the submission of an application to the competent

authority to modify its licence accordingly, pay to the

competent authority the application fee established in

sub-regulation (1), as applicable, which application

fee shall be reduced by twenty-five per cent (25%).

(3) Where a financial institution intends to

stop carrying out one (1) or more, but not all, of the

activities which it is licensed to carry out, it shall

upon the submission of a request to the competent

authority to modify its licence accordingly, pay to the

competent authority a modification fee of one

thousand euro (€1,000).".

Regulation 4 of the principal regulations shall be

substituted by the following new regulation

4. (1) A financial institution licensed to

carry out one (1) or more Category 1 activities on the

date when the annual supervisory fee is due in

accordance with regulation 5 shall, subject to the

provisions of the said regulation, pay to the

competent authority an annual supervisory fee which

shall be the aggregate of the following

(a) fifteen thousand euro (€15,000); and

(b) zero point zero two per cent (0.02%)

of the total assets

Provided that in any case, the amount

referred to in paragraph (b) shall not exceed two

hundred and fifty thousand euro (€250,000).

(2) Notwithstanding sub-regulation (1), the

first annual supervisory fee due to the competent

authority by a financial institution as referred to in the

said sub-regulation shall be fifteen thousand euro

(€15,000) prorated according to the period remaining

between the date when the financial institution is

granted a licence under the Act to carry out the

activities referred to in sub-regulation (1) and the end

of the calendar year in which such licence was

granted.

(3) A financial institution licensed to carry out

one (1) or more Category 1 activities and one (1)

Category 2 activity, or just the latter, on the date when

the annual supervisory fee is due in accordance with

regulation 5 shall, subject to the provisions of the said

regulation, pay to the competent authority an annual

supervisory fee which shall be the aggregate of the

following

(a) twenty-five

thousand

euro

(€25,000); and

(b) the higher of the following

(i) zero point zero two per cent

(0.02%) of the total assets; or

(ii) zero point zero zero zero three

per cent (0.0003%) of the total monetary

value of payment transactions or zero

point zero one per cent (0.01%) of the

average daily outstanding electronic

money, whichever is applicable

Provided that in any case, the applicable

amount in accordance with paragraph (b) shall not

exceed two hundred and fifty thousand euro

(€250,000).

(4) Notwithstanding sub-regulation (3), the

first annual supervisory fee due to the competent

authority by a financial institution as referred to in the

said sub-regulation shall be twenty-five thousand

euro (€25,000) prorated according to the period

remaining between the date when the financial

institution is granted a licence under the Act to carry

the activities referred to in sub-regulation (3) and the

end of the calendar year in which such licence was

granted.

(5) A financial institution licensed to carry out

one (1) or more Category 1 activities and both

Category 2 activities, or just the latter, on the date

when the annual supervisory fee is due in accordance

with regulation 5 shall, subject to the provisions of

the said regulation, pay to the competent authority an

annual supervisory fee which shall be the aggregate

of the following

(a) thirty-five thousand euro (€35,000);

and

(b) the higher of the following

(i) zero point zero two per cent

(0.02%) of the total assets; or

(ii) the aggregate of zero point

zero zero zero three per cent (0.0003%) of

the total monetary value of payment

transactions and zero point zero one per

cent (0.01%) of the average daily

outstanding electronic money

Provided that in any case, the applicable

amount in accordance with paragraph (b) shall not

exceed two hundred and fifty thousand euro

(€250,000).

(6) Notwithstanding sub-regulation (5), the

first annual supervisory fee due to the competent

authority by a financial institution as referred to in the

said sub-regulation shall be thirty-five thousand euro

(€35,000) prorated according to the period remaining

between the date when the financial institution is

granted a licence under the Act to carry out the

activities referred to in sub-regulation (5) and, or one

(1) or more Category 2 activities at the end of the

calendar year in which such licence was granted.".

Regulation 5 of the principal regulations shall be

substituted by the following new regulation

" Payment of the

5. (1) The first annual supervisory fee due

in accordance with regulation 4, as applicable, shall

be paid to the competent authority on the date when a

financial institution is granted a licence under the Act.

(2) Every annual supervisory fee following

the first annual supervisory fee which is due in

accordance with regulation 4, as applicable, shall be

paid to the competent authority in two (2) instalments

on the 1st January and 30th July of each calendar

year

Provided that the instalment due on the 1st

January shall be fifty per cent (50%) of the annual

supervisory fee due by a financial institution for the

previous year in accordance with regulation 4, as

applicable, and the instalment due on the 30th July

shall be the remaining balance of the annual

supervisory fee due by such financial institution for

that year in accordance with regulation 4, as

applicable.".

Immediately after regulation 5 of the principal regulations, Addition of new

there shall be added the following new regulations

" Fees in relation

5A. (1) Any natural person or company that

intends to provide, regularly or habitually, account

service providers. information services in or from Malta shall, upon

submission of an application to the competent

authority for registration in accordance with article

4(1A) of the Act, pay to the competent authority an

application fee of one thousand euro (€1,000).

(2) An account information service provider

registered in accordance with article 5 of the Act

shall, on the date when registration is granted under

the Act and annually thereafter upon the anniversary

of the date of such registration, pay to the competent

authority a registration fee of five thousand euro

(€5,000).

5B. (1) A European financial institution that

intends to establish a branch in Malta in accordance

with regulation 4 of the European Passport Rights for

Financial Institutions Regulations shall, upon

submission of the information required in accordance

with the said regulation, pay the competent authority

a notification fee of one thousand euro (€1,000).

(2) A European financial institution that has

established a branch in Malta in accordance with

regulation 4 of the European Passport Rights for

Financial Institutions Regulations shall, subject to the

provisions of sub-regulation (4), pay to the competent

authority an annual supervisory fee of one thousand

euro (€1,000).

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-

regulation (2), the first annual supervisory fee due to

the competent authority by a European financial

institution as referred to in the said sub-regulation

shall be one thousand euro (€1,000) prorated

according to the period remaining between the date

when the branch of such European financial

institution is established in Malta in accordance with

regulation 4(8) of the European Passport Rights for

Financial Institutions Regulations and the end of the

calendar year in which such branch was established.

(4) The first annual supervisory fee due in

accordance with sub-regulation (3) shall be paid to

the competent authority on the date when the branch

of the European financial institution is established in

Malta in accordance with regulation 4(8) of the

European Passport Rights for Financial Institutions

Regulations, and every annual supervisory fee

following the first annual supervisory fee which is

due in accordance with sub-regulation (2) shall be

paid to the competent authority on the 1st January of

each calendar year.".

Regulation 6 of the principal regulations shall be

substituted by the following new regulation

6. (1) The fees established and due in

accordance with these regulations shall not be

refundable.

(2) Without prejudice to regulations 4(2), (4),

(6) and 5B(3), the fees established and due in terms of

these regulations shall not be prorated.".

These regulations shall not be deemed to affect the

liability in respect of any fees due under the Financial Institutions

(Fees) Regulations prior to the coming into force of these

regulations.

€0.36