Malta

Genesis Global Files for Bankruptcy in Malta

Genesis Global, a gaming operator that has had difficulty in several jurisdictions, has filed for bankruptcy and is shutting down its headquarters in Malta, casino.org reported. Genesis had to battle a $4-million fine in the U.K., a $5-million fine in Belgium, and a $418K fine in Sweden. All were due to the operator’s inability to properly comply with anti-money laundering (AML) rules and other violations. The company shut off 14 sites from the U.K. market, the largest gaming market in Europe, and parted ways with CEO Ariel Reem earlier this month.

Malta
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Malta's Proposed Pre-Insolvency Bill

Malta's Pre-Insolvency Bill (‘the Bill’) is at its second reading in Parliament, Lexology reported. The Bill is being proposed as an Act to partially transpose EU Directive 2019/1023 (‘the Directive’) on preventive restructuring frameworks, on discharge of debt and disqualifications, and on measures to increase the efficiency of procedures concerning restructuring, insolvency and discharge of debt. In short, new legal tools are being provided in a bid to rescue viable businesses in distress from entering into a state of insolvency.

Malta
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Bolt Hits Back at 'Insolvency' Claim

Food delivery and ride-hailing service Bolt's local operators have hit back at a media report that suggested the operation is insolvent, the Times of Malta reported. In a judicial letter filed in court on Monday, BLT Food Malta Ltd, BLT Operations Ltd and BLT Malta Ltd took umbrage with a media report which included claims that the company is legally insolvent. On Sunday, MaltaToday reported how Debono Group, one of the principal investors in the local operations of Bolt, had gone to court to try and recover money it had lent to get the operation started in Malta.
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Malta Tourism Authority Sets Up Insolvency Fund

An insolvency fund has been set up by the Malta Tourism Authority to provide security to customers in the event of a licensed travel agent becoming insolvent, Times of Malta reported. Customers who would have booked travel packages that were not availed of because of insolvency, would get a refund of the payments made if they would have bought their packages from an agent subscribed to the fund.
Malta
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Malta Last In Insolvency Rankings

Malta has the most inefficient insolvency proceedings of all the EU member states, a damning report by the European Commission has revealed. The report coincides with new EU rules on business insolvency, aimed at increasing the opportunities for companies in financial difficulties to restructure early on so as to prevent bankruptcy and avoid laying off staff, the Times of Malta reported.
Malta
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Taxpayers May End Up Paying For Collapse Of Setanta Insurance

Taxpayers may end up footing the bill for third-party claims related to the collapse of Setanta Insurance, the Irish Times reported. The Maltese-registered insurer went into liquidation in April leaving 75,000 motor policyholders in Ireland with no cover. It had been selling mainly commercial motor insurance through brokers and was known as a low-cost operator. Initially Minister for Finance Michael Noonan signalled the industry-funded Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) would cover all outstanding third-party claims emanating from the collapse.
Ireland
Malta
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Luxembourg, Malta Stress Distance from Cyprus

The risks posed by hosting a large financial industry became a flash point on Wednesday as the Cyprus bailout trained the spotlight on other small euro nations that depend on the sector for jobs and economic growth, The Wall Street Journal reported. The issue has become a sore spot mainly for Luxembourg and Malta after the debate over Cyprus prompted European ministers and politicians to question the viability of housing a large financial center in a small country.
Europe
Luxembourg
Malta
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Air Malta Restructuring Date Extended

The target date for the completion of Air Malta’s restructuring plan has been extended to the end of the month as the “sensitivity” of the task made it more difficult to meet the early January deadline, Timesofmalta.com reported. The government had set itself the ambitious target of having the plan in place by early January for submission to the European Commission, but this has now been pushed back by a few weeks. Despite this, the government is still well ahead of its EU deadline for the plan and there will be ample time to discuss the reform programme with the European Commission.
Europe
Malta
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