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“Dear Sir, your account falls out of the bank’s risk appetite. We are kindly informing you that the account will be closed within two weeks. Please provide alternative bank details in order to transfer the remaining funds”.

According to the changes made to Commercial Code of Estonia from the 1st of July 2020  the minimum nominal value of a share is one cent instead of one euro, with the result that every cent of the share capital shall grant the shareholder one vote.

On February 1st this year, remote authentication was introduced for notarial transactions, which is equivalent to ordinary notarial authentication, i.e. authentication in the presence of a notary.

Related to the changes in the Commercial Code entered into force at the end of May the form requirement for the obligation transaction for the transfer and pledge of a share in private limited companies became invalid. As a result such contracts could be today concluded as if without a form and without a notary. Should the contracts be though still concluded as notarized and why?

On 18 May 2020, the Estonian Parliament passed an act amending the General Part of the Civil Code Act and other acts. The main purpose of the amendment is to provide flexible options for resolving difficulties relating to the adoption of resolutions and the transfer of shares as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. The amending act now awaits proclamation by the President, and the amendments described below will take effect on the day following their publication in the State Gazette.

In terms of the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (Directive (EU) 2018/843), which as from 10th January 2020 is in force in all the EU, member states are required to maintain inter-connected, publicly available national Ultimate Beneficial Owner (“UBO”) registries.

Malta Business Registry has begun the extensive process of cleaning up the registry from inactive companies, and so far has removed 10,000 inactive companies.

GREAT NEWS: The Malta Individual Investor Program Agency will continue to accept applications under current MIIP regulations until 30 September 2020. It is therefore important for prospective investors to apply by 31 July 2020.

If your bank account application got stuck at the primary stage, or the bank did not accept you as a client, there is a 90% chance that your application was of a poor quality. Our 1st Step team will prepare an application that would take into consideration your type of business, geography, and more importantly the expectations of the chosen bank in 1 working day.