The Central Bank of Malta has outlined the conditions of a six-month moratorium introduced by Legal Notice 142 and Directive 18: “On Moratoria on Credit Facilities in Exceptional Circumstances”. 

Under the Legal Notice and Directive, credit and financial institutions licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority will be offering a six-month moratorium on repayments of capital and interest to borrowers who have been negatively impacted by COVID-19.

Some of the conditions of the moratorium are as follows:

  • It applies to facilities sanctioned prior to 1st March 2020 to individuals, households or businesses that can show their financial situation has been negatively affected by COVID-19.
  • Applications are to be made with their respective credit or financial institution until 30th June 2020.  The six-month period will start from the date of approval of the respective application.
  • Borrowers who have already taken up a moratorium offered by their lender but believe that the terms under this Directive are more advantageous can renegotiate the terms subject to agreement with the credit or financial institution. 
  • Credit and financial institutions have the right to refuse applications.
  • Borrowers can apply to either forego payments of both capital and interest completely for six months or opt to continue to pay the interest only.

 

Who is eligible?

The moratorium applies to all retail and non-retail clients of credit and financial institutions, which include:

  • Non-financial corporations;
  • Micro, small and medium, and large enterprises;
  • Self-employed;
  • Persons in employment;
  • Persons who were employed before the start of the moratorium period but became unemployed during the period of the moratorium; and
  • Households. 

 

For more information, please contact:

Vladimiro Comodini – Partner ([email protected]).

Patrick Debattista – Senior Manager ([email protected]).