Banking Act (Consumer Credit) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026

Suppliment tal-Gazzetta tal-Gvern ta’ Malta Nru. 21,682, 3 ta’ Lulju, 2026 B 2043

L.N. 179 of 2026

BANKING ACT

(CAP. 371)

Banking Act (Consumer Credit) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by article 3 of the

Banking 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 Banking Act Citation, scope,

(Consumer Credit) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 and these and

commencement.

regulations shall be read and construed as one with the Banking Act S.L. 371.23.

(Consumer Credit) Regulations, hereinafter referred to as "the

principal regulations".

(2) The scope of these regulations is to transpose the

provisions of Directive (EU) 2023/2225 of the European Parliament

and of the Council of 18 October 2023 on credit agreements for

consumers and repealing Directive 2008/48/EC, and they shall be

interpreted and applied accordingly.

(3)

These regulations shall come into force on 20 November

Provided that the principal regulations shall continue to

apply to credit agreements entered into before 21 November 2026 until

such termination thereof.

Sub-regulation (1) of regulation 2 of the principal Amends

regulation 2 of

regulations shall be amended as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a) immediately after the definition "Act" there shall be

added the following new definitions

"

"advisory

services"

means

personal

recommendations made by a creditor or credit intermediary

as defined herein, to a consumer, in respect of one (1) or

more transactions relating to credit agreements and that

constitute a separate activity from the granting of credit or

from the services provided by a credit intermediary, as

applicable;

"ancillary service" means a service offered to the

consumer in conjunction with the credit agreement;";

(b) the definition "creditor" shall be substituted by the

following new definition

" "creditor" means a company that holds a credit

institution licence issued by the Authority in

accordance with article 7 of the Act, by virtue of which

it is licensed or authorised to grant, or promises to

grant, credit. For the avoidance of doubt, a creditor as

defined herein shall not be subject to the admission

process under the Consumer Credit Intermediaries

(Admission) Regulations;";

(c) the definition "credit intermediary"

shall

be

substituted by the following new definition

" "credit intermediary" means a natural or legal

person admitted by the Authority in accordance with

Consumer

Credit

Intermediaries

(Admission)

Regulations who is not acting as a creditor and who, in

the course of his trade, business or profession, for a fee,

which may take a pecuniary form or any other agreed

form of financial consideration

(a) presents or offers credit agreements to

consumers;

(b) assists consumers by undertaking

preparatory work or other pre-contractual

administration in respect of credit agreements

other than as referred to in paragraph (a); or

(c) concludes credit agreements with

consumers on behalf of the creditor;";

(d) immediately after the definition "credit intermediary"

there shall be added the following new definition

" "Credit Intermediaries Rules" means rules

applicable to credit intermediaries and other persons as

specified therein, which may be issued by the Authority

under these regulations;";

(e) immediately after the definition "Member State" there

shall be added the following new definition

" "open-end credit agreement" means a credit

agreement without a fixed duration and includes credits

that shall be repaid in full within or after a period but, once

repaid, become available to be drawn down again;".

Regulation 3 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 3 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a) sub-regulation (4) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new sub-regulation

"(4) The Authority shall promote measures that

support the education of consumers in relation to

responsible borrowing and debt management, in relation

the credit agreements. Such measures may include

providing consumers with clear and general information on

the credit granting process in order to guide them, in

particular those who take out, particularly by means of

digital tools, consumer credit for the first time.";

(b) immediately after sub-regulation (4) thereof, as

substituted, there shall be added the following new sub-

regulation

"(5) For the better carrying out of these regulations,

the Authority may, from time to time, issue and publish

Conduct of Business Rules, in accordance with article 4 of

the Act, and Credit Intermediaries Rules, and such rules

shall be binding on creditors and other persons as may be

specified therein.".

Sub-regulation (2) of regulation 4 of the principal Amends

regulation 4 of

regulations shall be substituted by the following

the principal

regulations.

"(2) Without prejudice to sub-regulation (1),

these regulations and the Rules made thereunder shall

not apply to credit agreements

(a) entered into before 21 November

2026, unless they are open-end credit agreements

and, or as provided otherwise in the Rules;

(b) which are secured by a hypothec,

privilege, or land registry charge, or by a right

related to immovable property;

(c) the purpose of which is to acquire or

retain property rights over land and, or over an

existing or projected building, including premises

used for trade, business or profession;

(d) involving a total amount of credit of

more than one hundred thousand euro (€100,000)

Provided that notwithstanding this

provision, these regulations shall apply to

unsecured credit agreements the purpose of which

is the renovation of a residential immovable

property involving a total amount of credit above

one hundred thousand euro (€100,000);

(e) relating to hiring or leasing where an

obligation to purchase the object of the agreement

is not stipulated either by the agreement itself or

by a separate agreement;

(f) where the credit is granted by an

employer to his employees as a secondary activity

free of interest or at annual percentage rates of

charge which are lower than those prevailing on

the market, and which are not offered to the

public;

(g) which are concluded with European

investment firms as defined in article 2 of the

Investment Services Act or with credit institutions

or electronic money institutions as defined in

article 2 of the Act for the purpose of allowing an

investor to carry out a transaction relating to one

(1) or more of the instruments listed in the Second

Schedule to the Investment Services Act, where

the European investment firm or credit institution

or electronic money institution granting the credit

is involved in such transaction;

(h) which are the outcome of a settlement

reached in court or before another statutory

authority;

(i) which relate to the deferred payment,

free of charge, of an existing debt;

(j) upon the conclusion of which the

consumer is requested to deposit an item as

security in the creditor’s safe-keeping and where

the liability of the consumer is strictly limited to

such pledged item;

(k) which relate to loans granted to a

restricted public under a statutory provision with

a general interest purpose and at lower interest

rates than those prevailing on the market or free

of interest or on other terms which are more

favorable to the consumer than those prevailing

on the market and at interest rates not higher than

those prevailing on the market; and

(l)

in the form of deferred debit cards

Provided that the terms of such

deferred debit cards are that the credit has to be

repaid within forty (40) days and which are free

of interest with only limited charges for the

provision of the payment service.".

Regulation 5 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 5 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a) sub-regulation (2) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new sub-regulation

"(2) Unless otherwise provided for in these

regulations and, or the Rules, the obligations of the creditor

shall apply equally to a credit intermediary.";

(b) immediately after sub-regulation (2) thereof, as

substituted, there shall be added the following new sub-

regulation

"(3) A creditor or credit intermediary may be

requested by the Authority to provide the necessary

evidence of compliance with knowledge and competence

requirements as established in these regulations, or any

other regulations and Rules issued thereunder.".

Regulation 6 of the principal regulations shall be Substitutes

regulation 6 of

substituted by the following new regulation

the principal

regulations.

6. (1) A creditor shall explicitly inform the

" Advisory services.

consumer, in the context of a given transaction, whether

advisory services are being or may be provided to the

consumer, and shall comply with any specific

requirements relating to the provision of such services

as established by any Rules issued thereunder.

(2) Notwithstanding the fact that advisory

services may only be provided by creditors and where

applicable, credit intermediaries, other persons may

provide advisory services where the advisory services

are provided as follows

(a) in an incidental manner in the course

of a professional activity that is regulated by legal

or regulatory provisions or a code of ethics which

do not exclude the provision of those services;

(b) in the context of management of

existing debt by insolvency practitioners and

where that management activity is regulated by

legal or regulatory provisions;

(c) in the context of management of

existing debt by public or voluntary providers of

independent debt advisory services which do not

operate on a commercial basis; or

(d) by persons that are authorised and

supervised by competent authorities in other

Member States.".

Immediately after regulation 6 of the principal regulations,

as substituted, there shall be added the following new regulation

6A. Creditors and credit intermediaries shall

ensure that their staff possess and keep an updated and

appropriate level of knowledge and competence in

relation to the manufacturing, the offering and the

granting of credit agreements, the carrying out of credit

intermediation activities and the provision of advisory

services, as well as in relation to consumer rights in the

area of their trade. Where the conclusion of a credit

agreement includes ancillary services, creditors and

credit intermediaries shall also ensure that their staff

possess the appropriate knowledge and competence in

relation to such ancillary services

Provided that the minimum knowledge and

competence requirements that shall apply in this regard

are established in the Schedule.".

Sub-regulation (1) of regulation 7 of the principal

regulations shall be substituted by the following new sub-regulation

"(1) Without prejudice to any other power assigned to the

Authority under the Act, these regulations and, or any other law,

where a person falling within the scope of these regulations fails

to comply with any of the provisions of these regulations or any

Rules issued under the Act, which further implement these

regulations, the Authority may, by notice in writing and without

recourse to a court hearing impose on such person an

administrative penalty which may not exceed one hundred and

fifty thousand euro (€150,000) for each breach or failure to

comply, as the case may be, or any other administrative measure,

as it may deem necessary.".

Immediately after regulation 8 of the principal regulations Adds a new

regulation to the

there shall be added the following new regulation

principal

regulations.

9. (1) The provisions of these regulations

shall prevail and apply notwithstanding anything to the

contrary contained in any credit agreement entered into

by the consumer.

(2) Any waiver by the consumer of any of the

rights granted to him by these regulations shall be null

and void.

(3) The provisions of these regulations shall not

be circumvented as a result of the way in which

agreements are formulated, in particular by integrating

drawdowns or credit agreements falling within the

scope of these regulations into credit agreements, the

character or purpose of which would make it possible to

avoid its application.

(4) Notwithstanding any provision in the credit

agreement to the effect that the applicable law to the

credit agreement shall be the law of a country which is

not a Member State, the protection granted by these

regulations shall continue to apply where the credit

agreement has a close link with the territory of Malta or

of any other Member State.".

Immediately after regulation 9 of the principal regulations Adds a new

Schedule to the

there shall be added the following new Schedule

principal

regulations.

"SCHEDULE

(regulation 6A)

Minimum Knowledge and Competence Requirements.

1. The minimum knowledge and competence requirements for

creditors’ and credit intermediaries’ staff shall include an appropriate

knowledge and level of competence in the following areas

(a) credit products falling within the scope of these

regulations in accordance with regulation 4(1) and the ancillary

services typically offered with them;

(b) the laws related to consumer credit agreements, in

particular consumer protection;

(c) in relation to over-indebtedness and consideration of

the clients’ future financial planning;

(d)

business ethics standards, consequences resulting

from non-disclosure during the application process and

consequences due to events of default;

(e) appropriate

knowledge

of

the

consumer’s

creditworthiness assessment process or, where applicable,

competence in assessing the consumer’s creditworthiness.

2. Creditors and credit intermediaries shall be responsible for

ensuring compliance with the appropriate level of knowledge and

competence on the basis of

(a) professional qualifications, for example diplomas,

degrees, training, competency tests; or

(b) professional experience, which may be defined as a

minimum number of years working in areas related to the

manufacturing, the offering and the granting of credit

agreements, the carrying out of credit intermediation activities

and the provision of advisory services as well as in relation to

consumer rights in the area of their trade.".

€0.36