Maltese Investors More Mature, Says Barclays

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com

03 May 2002

Speaking to the Malta Business Weekly on Thursday, Richard Wallace, the head of the Malta branch of Barclays, said that Maltese investors have become more 'mature' in their investment choices, following events in the world markets over the last six months.

Observing that investors in the low tax jurisdiction are 'now fully understanding the link between returns and the underlying risk', Mr Wallace told the newspaper that: 'At Barclays, we offer investments at various levels of risk, and from our experience over the past few months, we have noticed that people are much more aware of the quality of vehicles in investment.'

However, the Barclays chief told the MBW that although investors had become more mature, the fact that the Maltese market is still relatively young has not helped the jurisdiction during the recent economic downturn.

'There are limited opportunities in Malta's equity market. For two years you had a cycle of growth and now you're facing, as other countries are, an economic downturn,' Mr Wallace explained, adding that: 'There is not the breadth of opportunities that could help to stimulate interest.'

He concluded that although, on both an international and domestic scale there are reasons for optimism as we move into the second quarter of 2002, any recovery is likely to be muted and slow, at least in the early stages.

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