Doing Business & Investing In... MALTA B Q

ernard Mallia is Equinox Advisory Ltd.’s CEO. He also acts as President for the Institute of Research and Improvement in Social Sciences, a think tank, and has, at several times,

held visiting lecturing appointments in different tertiary education institutions.

Bernard, an economist by profession, is also in possession of other qualifications in Management, Public Policy, Information Accounting.

Systems and

Equinox Advisory started off as a humble niche consulting firm in 2008, specialising in the provision of economics services addressed mostly to Governments, and has since then grown into a full-blown consultancy firm offering specialised services to private sector companies as well as Governments in the legal, economics, corporate, and technology areas.

What makes Malta an attractive investment/business destination?

Malta is a country with very scant natural resources. An archipelago of tiny Islands with a population of merely 419,000 people and an area of merely 316 kilometres squared, Malta has traditionally had nothing to bank on but its historically important strategic location and the

64 www.finance-monthly.com DOING BUSINESS & INVESTING IN

EQUINOX ADVISORY LTD BERNARD MALLIA

“Public utility infrastructure, the quality and productivity (this being a composite measure of skills available, leave of absence entitlements and work ethic) of the available HR base, language impediments or facilitators, jurisdiction reputation and the cost of doing business in that jurisdiction are all important elements to bear in mind, whether you are investing in Malta or anywhere else.” Bernard Mallia discusses Malta-bound investments.

number and the sheer size of natural harbours that it boasts.

Since the times of the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians,

Malta (originally Melita -

translating into “safe port”) has been a coveted trading post, and with the shift in perspective following Roman occupancy, a coveted military base. This location advantage has endured through the years which have seen a succession of colonisers including the Moors, the Normans, the Aragonese, the Habsburgs, the Knights Hospitalier, the French and the British. Even during the Second World War, Malta’s strategic value was still evident in Winston Churchill’s description of Malta as the “unsinkable aircraft carrier”.

Following the dismantling of the last military base in 1979, which had served as the dominant economic model since Roman times, Malta had to transition to other types of macroeconomic models for

sustenance. Manufacturing and

tourism based on a sun and sea proposition with the added benefit of some of the best and oldest historical sites around the world were the areas that were given the highest importance at the policy level.

Since then, however, Malta has been moving very fast in capitalising on the opportunities that

materialised. Since the early 90’s the drive to be one of the earliest adopters of e-Government gained impetus and heavy investment in infrastructure ensued. In the mid-90’s a conscious industrial policy providing a framework for the services economy to flourish was also laid out. This entailed, in addition to the heavy investment in infrastructure, a strong investment in human resources, which were seen as key to the development of the services economy. In 2004, Malta acceded to the EU, further putting it on the RADAR, and has, since then, continued working hard to achieve and maintain a standing as a recognised reputable business jurisdiction.

Within just a decade and a half, Malta managed to: • Keep the momentum it had built in preceding years in tourism;

• Attract 10% of the remote gaming business worldwide;

• Position itself as the largest merchant shipping flag in the EU;

• Increase its worldwide financial services presence, with all types of financial institutions setting up shop in Malta – a trend that also transpires from Equinox Advisory’s incoming business; and

• Isolate itself from and remain virtually unaffected by the 2008 financial crisis, with a very shallow recession in 2009 lasting only two successive quarters.