Malta, from a trade hub to a world Fintech centre

When addressing the KPMG’s Biennial Financial Services Conference, Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation, Silvio Schembri said that it is now the time for Malta to serve as a Fintech hub.

“Malta has always been a trade hub, through the years we have built a strong financial services industry and a solid ICT infrastructure. It is now time to bridge the gap and make Malta the Fintech Centre of the World,” Schembri said.

“A vision that will improve people’s lives, generate new opportunities, increase efficiency and manage our risks better,” continued Schembri.

The Parliamentary Secretary explained how Fintech is reshaping the financial experience of millions of people and businesses around the world with the potential to alter the financial services as we know them today. “Fintech will democratise financial services the same way the internet democratised information,” Schembri said adding that Fintech could help make the system itself more resilient with greater diversity, redundancy and depth.

Schembri explained that while government is considering exploring this new niche within the financial services, it is also looking at technologies that are of great benefit to the financial sec- tor such as blockchains or disrupted ledgers.

Juanita Brockdorff, partner, Tax Services for KPMG said Malta managed to transform itself into a centre of excellence for the financial services. She added that the time is ripe for this industry to upgrade itself and cling the opportunities of new technology in order to maintain its competitiveness and relevance.

The KPMG conference themed Technology 2020 – The future of the financial services is with us, explored how the financial services providers are faced with challenges such as digitisation, robotics and artificial intelligence, blockchain, crypto currencies, cloud computing and big data.