A trust can be established within days from receipt of client instructions, a bank reference and lawyers letter of recommendation. Following deed initialling and signature of administration contract, and payment of initial trust fund to the trustees, the Trust legally comes into existence and is immediately copied to the Malta Financial Services Authority, for issuance of a certificate of registration (3 to 5 weeks). Trust bank accounts having a variety of joint-signatory rules (Trustee / Protector / third party) may be set up in Malta within a few days. A Malta trust is registered by the MFSA within 2 weeks from document submission, and is then subject to a maximum duration of 99 years. The only prohibition on a trust use is the ownership of Maltese assets or resident beneficiaries.

The client (Settlor) must accept the legal fact that his/her proprietary rights effectively are eliminated upon transfer of the assets into the trust. Transfer of these assets into the trust equates to a transfer of ‘beneficial’ rights to the trust, claimable only by the beneficiaries. In addition to the obligation of a high standard of care binding a Maltese Trustee, a “Protector” may also be appointed by the client to add security and confidentiality procedures in the clients’ home jurisdiction. Typically, the Protector monitors / audits the conduct and policy of the Trustee. In this way trustees can be directly answerable to the Protector (a trusted advisor nominated by the client) or even beneficiaries themselves, in terms of fulfilment of the obligations cast upon us by the Trust Deed and any additional appropriate administration, investment or administration contracts.