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Professional Secrecy
Maltese law caters for safeguarding total anonymity, where required. This effectively means that details of the beneficial owners will not be available for public or private inspection if this option is chosen. This is achieved through specifically licensed Trustee Companies the objects of which are restricted, by statute and by regulation, to holding shares in companies on behalf of third parties, either as acting as trustees or fiduciaries [mandataries]. These licensed trustee companies are subject to due diligence obligations set out by law.
The provisions of the Professional Secrecy Act protects against and indeed prohibits disclosure of the identity of the third party to local and international authorities. This is however subject to rules and guidelines for the prevention of money laundering.
The only other exception to the safeguarding of total anonymity is the requirement for local banks and auditors to be informed of the details of the ultimate beneficial owner(s) of any Malta companies that use their services.
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