Jacob Appel, Founder and CEO of Binderr, Malta’s digital solution built for corporate services and national registries, shares his view on what the future of compliance in Malta’s corporate sector could look like following the removal from Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s grey list.
“As someone who has lived and built several companies in Malta over the last ten years, I was delighted with the news that Malta is no longer on the FATF grey list,” Mr Appel said.
"The country has managed to be removed from the list in a considerably short period of time, with all stakeholders pulling together and working towards one common goal,” he added.
Although Malta forms a small part of a much larger economical ecosystem, it holds a strong position and has been presented with the perfect opportunity to set a precedent globally, to which Mr Appel replied that “Malta shouldn’t simply be happy with not being on the grey list.”
“The country as a whole should ensure that it continues to restore its reputation globally and work towards becoming a global leader in anti-money laundering (AML) and corporate governance practices,” he continued before adding: “being removed from the grey list is only the beginning of the work and reforms cannot, and should not, stop here.”
Apart from AML, corporate governance and corporate filings play a very important role in ensuring a high reputation, particularly in the way foreigners regard Malta when doing business.
In recent years, there has been an incredible increase in the burden on Corporate Service Providers (CSPs) to maintain various records of their clients’ companies and to be required to present such records to the authorities in a timely manner.
Mr Appel explained that despite the rationale behind such pressures being right, “CSPs weren’t assisted in any way by means of any automation software or digital tools which could assist them in both the preparation of, and more importantly, maintenance of a never-ending list of corporate documents”.
Such documents range from “BO forms, registers, resolutions, Malta Business Registry (MBR) forms and so many other requirements which are currently imposed on CSPs,” with Mr Appel highlighting the need for the development of a “tailor-made solution like Binderr”.
Binderr is an online platform which automates several processes that are “currently take CSPs hours to conclude”, including the creation of corporate structures and updating of registers, making the filing process “a seamless experience for all parties involved”.
“We truly believe that this tool will be of tremendous help to CSPs,” he said, ensuring all corporate files are constantly kept up to date while reducing the need for more human resources “to simply keep documentation updated”.
