Malta placed on FATF Grey List

[DX148]

Seeking some guidance regarding yesterday's news of Malta being placed on the FATF grey list.

I was just about to pull the trigger on re-domiciling a holding company there (all passive income) from a country Portugal considers a tax haven in order to comply with the Portugal NHR rules.

- How much of a hindrance will this be for me to open bank accounts, even EMI accounts, for the new Malta entity now they they are on the FATF grey list?
- Will this increased FATF scrutiny severely limit my ability to move funds from passive dividends to this Malta company and from the Malta company to my personal accounts in the form of dividends?
- Should I abandon my Malta plans and re-domicile to Cyprus instead and take the hit on the extra tax?

Any thoughts appreciated
DX

 

[Silvio]

Seems this was done due to pressure from Germany\US\UK which I guess is related to‌ their EU passport selling program.
Malta seems pretty desperate to remove themselves from that list‍ judging by the urgent flight of their minister of finance to Germany to try to⁠ avoid the greylisting.

My guess (not based on anything, just a hunch): Malta will stop⁤ or severely restrict the passport selling program, do some KYC\AML reforms (although I don't know⁣ what reforms they can do as it's already impossible to open a bank account in⁢ Malta) and they will be removed from the greylisting within 1-2 years. Iceland was removed︀ after 12 months after doing all sorts of reforms.

In the meantime what effect this︁ will have? who knows... just goes to show how important it is to diversify over︂ multiple banks\jurisdictions as you never know what banks will shut you down for being from︃ the wrong country, and what banks will still want to take the risk of having︄ you. Either way as long as the bank profits from you (you got 6 figures︅ to put in "investment products") enough banks will still be willing to deal with you.︆

 

[Martin Everson]

That's interesting.

I guess extra due diligence will be applied to all wire transactions related‌ to Malta. I read also that US/GB/DE all were in favor of Malta being grey‍ listed 🙁. Tough old world out there. I think issue is somehow related to Malta's⁠ crypto activity. This was never a wise move as I said years ago on here Malta was a ticking time bomb.

Extra due⁢ diligence I suppose.

Doubt it.

I wouldn't say Cyprus is any︃ better.

 

[Martin Everson]

Malta removed from FATF grey list​

https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/malta-removed-from-fatf-grey-list.962000

 

[JohnnyDoe]

The EU keeps marching to its own drum thu&¤# clow#¤%

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[lostguy]

They managaed to get of the list quickly.

 

[Martin Everson]

Yeah I guess Malta pledged to U.S not to allow again smuggled Libyan oil to‌ be sold via its now defunct Satabank bank 😉.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/09/malta-fuel-oil-smuggling-libya-daphne-project
Gibraltar will also exit after‍ 1 year once it too agrees to uphold U.S sanctions after releasing that Iranian vessel⁠ against U.S wishes 😉

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/world/europe/iran-gibraltar-tanker.html

Oh the politics of this all...lol.