Companies and commercial partnerships in Malta are registered by the Malta Business Registry (MBR), the central authority for commercial entities, headed by the Registrar of Companies and established under Subsidiary Legislation 595.27. It also registers foundations and associations, keeps the Central Register of Beneficial Owners and the Insolvency Register, and publishes official notices. Company data and filed documents, including annual accounts, are publicly available through the registry, while beneficial ownership has been restricted since Malta transposed the Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive and now requires a demonstrated legitimate interest.

The official company register in Malta

The register is kept by the Malta Business Registry (MBR), at mbr.mt, which describes itself as the central authority for all commercial entities in Malta. It was established under Subsidiary Legislation 595.27 and is led by the Registrar of Companies. Company law rests on the Companies Act, Chapter 386 of the Laws of Malta, while foundations and associations are governed by the Second Schedule to the Civil Code, Chapter 16, and its subsidiary legislation.

Filing and incorporation run through BAROS (Business Automation Registry Online System), the MBR portal that provides name reservation, incorporation filings, round-the-clock document filing for new and existing commercial partnerships, registration of legal persons, foundations and associations, and the issue of certified documentation such as certificates of good standing and beneficial ownership certificates. The public register search is published at registry.mbr.mt.

Four instruments sit under the same roof:

  • The register of commercial partnerships — companies and partnerships registered under the Companies Act, together with the branches of overseas companies.
  • The register of foundations and associations — voluntary and private-interest structures registered under the Second Schedule to the Civil Code, with the administrators, registered office and statutory documents recorded.
  • The Central Register of Beneficial Owners — the beneficial ownership records of commercial partnerships, foundations and associations.
  • The Insolvency Register — the record of insolvency proceedings, alongside the MBR’s database of official notices.

Malta keeps separate arrangements for legal entities and for individual entrepreneurs. A company or partnership registers with the MBR; a self-employed person does not form a commercial partnership and registers instead with Jobsplus as self-employed, obtaining a tax identification number from the Commissioner for Revenue and, where applicable, a VAT number. There is therefore no sole-trader entry in the MBR to look up, and a Maltese self-employed trader cannot be verified through the company register.

Legal forms that can be registered in Malta

English is an official language of Malta and the Companies Act is enacted in English, so the statutory names below need no translation; the two partnership forms retain their traditional French designations.

Commercial partnerships under the Companies Act:

  • Private limited liability company (Ltd) — the most common Maltese entity by a wide margin. Capital is divided into shares, the liability of members is limited to the amount unpaid on their shares, membership and share transfers are restricted by the memorandum and articles, and the company may be formed with a single member. A statutory minimum share capital applies.
  • Public limited liability company (p.l.c.) — may offer its shares to the public and be admitted to listing; subject to a substantially higher minimum share capital and to fuller governance and disclosure requirements than a private company.
  • Partnership en nom collectif — a partnership formed by two or more partners who are jointly and severally liable without limit for the obligations of the partnership, which nonetheless has a legal personality distinct from its partners under Maltese law.
  • Partnership en commandite (limited partnership) — combines general partners liable without limit, who manage the business, with limited partners whose liability is confined to their contribution. Its capital may be divided into shares or not, and the share-capital variant is used for fund and investment structures.
  • Investment company with variable share capital (SICAV) and investment company with fixed share capital (INVCO) — collective investment vehicles provided for by the Companies Act, whose share capital varies with subscriptions and redemptions or is fixed; they additionally require authorisation from the financial services regulator.
  • Overseas company (branch) — a company incorporated outside Malta that establishes a branch or place of business in Malta must register it with the MBR, filing the parent’s constitutional documents and the particulars of the persons authorised to represent it.
  • Societas Europaea (SE) — the European public limited-liability company, registrable in Malta by virtue of its EU membership and able to transfer its registered office to another Member State.

Foundations and associations under the Second Schedule to the Civil Code:

  • Foundation — an endowed body with no members, administered by administrators for a purpose or for named beneficiaries; it may be a private foundation or a purpose foundation, and it is registered with the MBR.
  • Association — a membership body constituted for a lawful purpose other than the distribution of profit to its members, likewise registered with the MBR; voluntary organisations may additionally enrol with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations.

Information available from the register

The MBR operates as a genuinely public register. The online registry allows a company or partnership to be found and identified, and for each entity the record shows the registered name and registration number, the legal form, the registered office, the date of registration, the objects, the authorised, issued and paid-up share capital and the classes of shares, the members and their holdings, the directors, the company secretary and the legal or judicial representative with the extent of their authority, the auditor, and the status of the entity including dissolution, liquidation and striking off. For a branch of an overseas company the record identifies the foreign parent and the persons authorised to act in Malta.

Behind the entry sits the file of documents delivered to the Registrar: the memorandum and articles of association and every amendment, the resolutions and statutory forms recording changes of name, objects, capital, office, directors, secretary and auditor, the returns of allotment of shares and of share transfers, and the documents relating to mergers, divisions, conversions, dissolution and liquidation.

Annual accounts are filed and public. Companies deliver their annual return and their annual financial statements, with the directors’ report and the auditor’s report where required, to the Registrar, and those filings form part of the public file. Malta also issues certificates of good standing and, for those entitled to them, beneficial ownership certificates, and the MBR publishes official notices and maintains the Insolvency Register, so both the corporate history and the insolvency position of a Maltese entity can be established from official sources.

What the register does not disclose

Beneficial ownership now requires a legitimate interest. Malta has tightened and re-regulated access to the Central Register of Beneficial Owners while transposing Directive (EU) 2024/1640, the Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. Legal Notice 127 of 2025, in force on 10 July 2025, amended regulation 7 so that access is granted to a person who demonstrates a legitimate interest in the prevention and combating of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing, on a written request giving the applicant’s identification, credentials and the legal basis of the request; the Registrar may call for further documents, decides in writing, and a refusal may be challenged in court within twenty days. A further amendment published in the Government Gazette on 10 July 2026 added the beneficial owner’s place of birth and residential address to the data collected, introduced the new Form BO4 with a six-month window for entities not yet compliant, obliged companies to take reasonable and appropriate steps to verify whether an undisclosed natural person exercises control, clarified when a company’s register of members may serve as its beneficial ownership register, and set out grounds of refusal, appeal rights, annual reporting and relief in exceptional cases of disproportionate risk. Access requests are addressed to the Registry rather than satisfied by an open search.

For foundations and associations the position is similar and in places stricter: the beneficial ownership information — founders, administrators, protectors, beneficiaries and, for associations, members and other persons exercising control — is open as of right to the national competent authorities, the financial intelligence unit, the tax authorities and supervisors, while a member of the public must apply to the Registrar in writing and show that access will contribute to the prevention, detection and combating of money laundering, its predicate offences or the financing of terrorism.

The register also says nothing about the right to trade: sectoral licences for financial services, gaming, aviation and shipping are held by the respective regulators, tax standing is a matter for the Commissioner for Revenue, and self-employed individuals are outside the register altogether.

Documents that can be obtained from the register

  • Certificate of registration (certificate of incorporation) — conclusive evidence that a company or partnership has been registered, with its name, registration number and date of registration; required by banks, notaries and counterparties.
  • Certificate of good standing — confirmation issued by the MBR that an entity is registered, has filed what it must and is not in the course of being struck off or wound up; the document normally requested for cross-border transactions and tenders.
  • Memorandum and articles of association — the constitutional document as originally registered and as amended, showing objects, share capital, share rights, the powers of the directors and the rules on transfer of shares.
  • Annual return — the yearly statement of the entity’s particulars, share capital, members and officers as at its return date.
  • Annual financial statements with the directors’ and auditor’s reports — the accounts delivered to the Registrar; the basis of any credit or counterparty assessment of a Maltese company.
  • Statutory forms and resolutions recording changes — the filings behind each registered change: appointments and resignations of directors, secretary and auditor, changes of registered office, name and objects, allotments and transfers of shares, and alterations of capital.
  • Documents on mergers, divisions, conversions and liquidation — the resolutions, reports and returns evidencing a reorganisation or the winding up and dissolution of an entity, and when each step took effect.
  • Overseas company filings — the constitutional documents of the foreign parent, the particulars of its directors and of the persons authorised to represent the Maltese branch, and the accounts delivered for it.
  • Foundation or association deed and administrators’ particulars — the statutory documents registered under the Second Schedule to the Civil Code, with the registered office and the administrators of the entity.
  • Beneficial ownership certificate — issued through BAROS to those entitled to it, and to members of the public only on a written request in which a legitimate interest is demonstrated.
  • Insolvency Register entries and official notices — the published record of insolvency proceedings and of the Registrar’s notices concerning the entity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official business register in Malta?

It is the register kept by the Malta Business Registry (MBR), the central authority for commercial entities, headed by the Registrar of Companies and established under Subsidiary Legislation 595.27. It is published at mbr.mt with the register search at registry.mbr.mt.

Are the accounts of Maltese companies public?

Yes. Companies deliver their annual return and annual financial statements, with the directors’ and auditor’s reports where required, to the Registrar, and those documents form part of the entity’s public file.

Can I look up the beneficial owner of a Maltese company?

Only if you can show a legitimate interest. Since Legal Notice 127 of 2025, in force on 10 July 2025, access to the Central Register of Beneficial Owners is granted on written request to a person demonstrating a legitimate interest in combating money laundering, predicate offences or terrorist financing, and a refusal can be appealed to the court within twenty days.

What changed for beneficial ownership in July 2026?

A further amendment published on 10 July 2026 added the beneficial owner’s place of birth and residential address to the required data, introduced Form BO4 with a six-month window for entities not yet compliant, obliged companies to verify whether an undisclosed person exercises control, and set out refusal grounds, appeal rights and annual reporting on access.

Where does a self-employed person register in Malta?

Not with the MBR. A self-employed person registers with Jobsplus as self-employed and obtains a tax identification number from the Commissioner for Revenue, so there is no sole-trader entry in the business register.

What is a partnership en commandite?

A Maltese limited partnership: one or more general partners manage the business and are liable without limit, while limited partners are liable only up to their contribution. Its capital may be divided into shares, and that variant is widely used for investment and fund structures.

Sources

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