The objective of these Regulations is to implement Article 74 of EU Directive 2024/1640 of 31st May 2024 regarding the measures that shall be adopted by Member States to prevent the use of the financial system for money laundering or terrorist financing. These Regulations came into force on 10th July 2025.
Regulation 3 and Regulation 5 of these Regulations, concerning the Declaration of Beneficial Owners and the Record of Beneficial Owners respectively, were amended to replace the term ‘the nationality’ by ‘the nationality or nationalities’. This seeks to ensure that beneficial owners who have more than one nationality report all nationalities. In view of this, all forms have been amended to include reference to ‘the nationalities’. Moreover, the scope of the Regulations became applicable to companies continued in Malta in view of cross-border conversions, mergers and divisions.
These amendments also provide that should a natural or legal person be given access to the beneficial ownership information of a particular company, however is not able to access such electronically, a print-out of the information contained within the register of beneficial owners shall be provided by the Registrar.
On the other hand, Regulation 7 was amended to provide that any natural or legal person who can show a legitimate interest in preventing and combating money laundering, its predicate offences, or the financing of terrorism, is to be given access to information on the beneficial ownership of the company without informing the company concerned. In this regard, the natural or legal person shall submit a written request to the Registrar together with the documents mentioned within Regulation 7(1)(c). The Registrar is granted discretion to consult other bodies in the process of determining whether a legitimate interest exists. Should the Registrar refuse a written request, the Registrar is obliged to inform the applicant of such decision in writing. Applicants who are not in agreement with the Registrar’s decision may, within twenty working days from receipt, apply for the judicial review of such decision through a sworn application filed within the Civil Court (Commercial Section).
It is also pertinent to note that the Registrar is now authorized to provide information regarding beneficial owners to the relevant competent authorities without any charges and in a timely manner. The Registrar is also obliged to share information with other foreign bodies which administer the register of beneficial owners, with which Malta has an agreement in order to prevent and combat the funding of terrorism, money laundering or its predicate offences.
A new proviso is included within Regulation 10 highlighting that where a general partner of a partnership en commandite or limited partnership, in its position as ‘shareholder’, falls within the ‘beneficial owner’ definition as defined within the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financial Terrorism Regulations, such general partner shall be considered as ‘shareholder’.
Moreover, a new option is added in Section A of the Form BO2, providing that in instances where there is only a change to the extent and/or nature of the beneficial ownership, only the full name and surname of the beneficial owner/s concerned, together with a description of the change, is needed. Moreover, a detailed description is needed with respect to the designation of Senior Managing Officials.
Similar amendments are effected with respect to the Annual Confirmation BO Form, the Change in Senior Managing Officials Form, and the Change in details of BO/ Senior Managing Officials Form in order to enhance transparency.
Further information may be accessed via the following links:
https://mbr.mt/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/User-Guidelines.pdf
https://www.parlament.mt/media/134797/ln127-of-2025.pdf
https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/386.19/eng/pdf
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