Malta Law Academy conference to address complex MIFID regulation

On 3 January, Europe saw the update to the Markets in Financial Instrument Directive (MiFID II) and the accompanying Regulation (MiFIR) come into force. Focusing on core principles of the creation of fairer, safer and more efficient markets, this broadest piece of financial industry legislation ever will be significantly changing market structures.

With this in mind, the Malta Chamber of Advocates, through its Malta Law Academy and jointly with the Commercial Law Department at the University of Malta are hosting an afternoon conference with the theme MIFID II – Burdens, challenges or opportunities? on Wednesday, 23 May.

“The financial services sector is one of the main pillars of Malta’s economy and we felt that the MIFID Directive is one of this year’s hottest topics which merits a dedicated conference to help practitioners address some of the challenges but also at the opportunities that can help us harness this vast regulatory change,” explains David Fabri, head of the Commercial Law Department at the University of Malta who will be chairing this afternoon conference.

“We have secured a very interesting line-up of speakers for this event which is open to all those who are somehow professionally involved in the financial services sector. In fact, besides lawyers, we are also expecting stockbrokers, compliance officers, fund managers, insurance brokers, regulators and all those who operate in our wellestablished financial services industry,” added Dr Fabri.

The speakers for this conference will be Dr Joseph Ghio from Fenech & Fenech Advocates on the topic, Of crashes, crooks and crises: the evolution of securities regulation; Dr Andre Zerafa from Ganado Advocates on The services of investment advice and execution – differences and pitfalls; Dr Laragh Cassar from Cassar Camilleri Advocates on The reverse solicitation exemption under MIFID II; Dr Katya Tua from Mamo TCV Advocates on The Impact of MIFID II on cases brought before the Arbiter for Financial Services and Dr Louis Degabriele from Camilleri Preziosi Advocates on the topic The new MIFID II inducements and fees regime.

The talks will be followed by a moderated panel discussion with the participation of David Curmi, Edward Grech and Edward Rizzo, which will contribute a more practical viewpoint of how the industry is looking at the MIFID regulation.

Attendance for this conference at the Valletta University Campus is at a fee of €45 and registrations may be made by sending an email on events@avukati.org