Treasury Bills will be dematerialised on Monday 2 April, when the Treasury Bill instrument will be officially listed on the Malta Stock Exchange.

The Accountant General pointed out that the dematerialisation date was given in Government Notice No. 250 published in the Government Gazette on Tuesday.

As a result of the listing on the stock exchange, and as already announced in Legal Notice 58 (Directive on the Electronic Central Depository for Treasury Bills 2007), published in the Government Gazette last Friday, all outstanding Treasury Bill certificates will cease to be negotiable in the secondary market one business day prior to the dematerialisation date (that is Friday 30 March).

As from the dematerialisation date, only Treasury Bills that are in electronic book entry form (that is, that are duly registered in the Central Securities Depository of the Malta Stock Exchange) will be eligible for trading in the secondary market. Accordingly, all holders of Treasury Bill certificates are to surrender these certificates to the Treasury Department by not later than next Thursday in order for their holdings to be recorded in the Central Securities Depository.

In this regard, the Treasury Department shall be receiving Treasury Bill certificates from next Monday till next Thursday, between 8am and noon. All Treasury Bill holders will be given a receipt in lieu of the certificate and this will serve as evidence of title to the relative Treasury Bill until such time that a Registration Advice is issued by the Malta Stock Exchange. In the event that there may be investors who would wish to sell a part or the whole of their holding of Treasury Bills during this transitional period, they are to contact the Treasury Department on tel. no.: 2596-7139 or 2596-7141 for further information.