Funds from countries such as Switzerland, but also Croatia and Germany, have been attracted to Malta due to the domicile regulations here, the more competitive environment and the skilled workforce.

This has led Bank of Valletta to set up a new subsidiary company, Valletta Fund Services Limited, to offer its service to foreign funds and attract more of them.

Bank chairman Roderick Chalmers told the media on Sunday that Malta could figure high as an attraction for funds according to a checklist published in the Financial Times some months ago: availability of skilled workforce, a responsible regulatory environment, offering access to a large market and having a superior infrastructure.

Malta can offer price competitiveness in financial services, a workforce that is flexible, capable and has language skills, a network of double taxation agreements and, above all, it is in the EU. And it is very pleasant to work here, of course.

The new company will source fund administration from Valletta Fund Management, so the new baby comes with a very respectable dowry – 13 investment companies and 43 sub-funds, $1 billion worth of assets and a shareholder base of almost 50,000 shareholders. VFM will continue to operate as a separate subsidiary company focusing on product development and the marketing of its range of collective investment schemes.

VFS starts operations tomorrow offering turnkey pre-registration assistance, fund accounting, registrar and transfer agency services and other peripheral services.

Kenneth Farrugia moves from VFM to VFS and Peter Perotti is earmarked as his successor.