‘We are delighted FinanceMalta has been accepted as a full member of WAIFC’

FinanceMalta has been accepted as a member of the World Alliance of International Financial Centers (WAIFC). The organisation’s application to join the WAIFC was discussed and accepted during the last Annual General Meeting, held recently in Casablanca, Morocco.

FinanceMalta is a non-profit public-private initiative set up by Government and the Malta Asset Servicing Association, the Association of Insurance Brokers, the Malta Insurance Association, the Malta Bankers’ Association and the Institute of Financial Services Practitioners. It serves to raise the profile of Malta as an international business and finance centre.

With the addition of FinanceMalta, WAIFC now comprises 21 members. WAIFC, which was set up in 2018 in Paris, facilitates the cooperation between financial centres, the exchange of best practices and communication with the general public.

WAIFC is a non-profit association based in Brussels, and its members are are city governments, associations, and similar institutions developing and promoting their financial centres.

Current members include TheCityUK, Paris EUROPLACE, Luxembourg for Finance, Frankfurt Main Finance, Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council, FinCity.Tokyo, Italian Banking, Insurance and Finance Federation, and Toronto Finance International, amongst others.

The last AGM was hosted by Casablanca Finance City and was attended by almost 40 member and observer representatives. With the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 a few weeks away also in North Africa, a core focus of the AGM was around the work financial centres are conducting independently and collectively with regards to the green transition, circular economy and sustainable finance.

George Vella, Chairman of FinanceMalta, attended the Casablanca AGM and said: “We are delighted that FinanceMalta has been accepted as a full member of WAIFC at the recent AGM held in Casablanca. WAIFC brings together financial centres from across the globe, sharing best practices and tackling issues that are common to all centres such as sustainable finance, innovation and fintech, and human capital. FinanceMalta will contribute to this dialogue, seeking to provide the alliance with insight from a small but dynamic European Union financial centre.”

Mr Vella added that FinanceMalta and its members will benefit from being part of WAIFC by working at a global level with other financial services centres on various projects and initiatives, which will continue to increase Malta’s exposure internationally and reaffirm the country as an innovator in financial services.

Dr Jochen Biedermann, Managing Director of the WAIFC, said: “We highly welcome FinanceMalta as a new WAIFC member. During my past visits, I got to know Malta as an extremely active and very innovative ecosystem for financial services and beyond. Add to that the special location in the south of the EU, between Italy and North Africa, which makes Malta an ideal bridgehead between the continents. The FinanceMalta team, with whom we have been working closely for some time, is highly professional, and the WAIFC management is very much looking forward to further, even more intensive exchanges.”

At a global level, the WAIFC promotes functionalities and financial services as close as possible to the end user, in a context of respect for cultural and operational diversity, which is a key factor in sustainable growth. Such diversity of financial centres is a source of exchange and cross-fertilisation that is beneficial to all stakeholders.

FinanceMalta and WAIFC established relations in 2020, and the member status obtained by FinanceMalta is the result of a business development strategy which has, among its objectives, that of raising the profile and influence of the jurisdiction internationally.

More details on the WAIFC membership will be given during FinanceMalta’s Annual Conference which will be held on 1 December 2022. For more information: https://www.fmannualconference.org/