Circular on Revised Annual Compliance Return and Submission Requirements for Trustees of Family Trusts

Circular Triq l-Imdina, Zone 1 Central Business District, Birkirkara CBD 1010 +356 2144 1155 communications@mfsa.mt www.mfsa.mt Circular addressed to Trustees of Family Trusts registered in terms of Article 43B of the Trusts and Trustees Act - Submission of the Annual Compliance Return and Other Regulatory Submissions Reference is made to the Annual Compliance Return (‘ACR’), which Trustees of Family Trusts registered in terms of Article 43B of the Trusts and Trustees Act, are required to submit annually as part of their regulatory submissions to the Authority. Trustees of Family Trusts are kindly informed that the revised ACR template is now available on the MFSA website. The revised ACR template reflects modifications to the questions and data points therein, to remove certain previous duplicate requests, and for the purposes of streamlining and simplification of the ACR. Furthermore, following amendments to the MFSA’s internal systems, Trustees of Family Trusts are also being notified of modifications in the naming convention of submissions, as explained below in this Circular. It is of utmost importance that the latest version of the ACR is downloaded from the MFSA’s website, which is available as of the date of this Circular, and that the naming convention as explained below is adhered to when making the relevant submissions. A. Changes to the Annual Compliance Return The Authority has introduced Sheet 17 entitled ‘Financial Information’, as presented below. The information on this Sheet should align with the Trustee of Family Trusts' financial statements for the same reporting period of the ACR, as submitted to the Authority. 22 March 2024

Circular Triq l-Imdina, Zone 1 Central Business District, Birkirkara CBD 1010 +356 2144 1155 communications@mfsa.mt www.mfsa.mt Sheet 17 B. Removal of the Requirement to Submit a Certificate of Compliance Trustees of Family Trusts are no longer required to submit a Certificate of Compliance in the previously prescribed form. As the MFSA indicated in the Consultation Document on the Trustees of Family Trusts Rulebook, the information previously collected in the Certificate of Compliance has been incorporated in Sheet 18 of the updated ACR, as per the screenshot below: Sheet 18

Circular Triq l-Imdina, Zone 1 Central Business District, Birkirkara CBD 1010 +356 2144 1155 communications@mfsa.mt www.mfsa.mt C. Naming Conventions Trustees of Family Trusts are to submit the respective documentation by uploading a single Zip file through the LH Portal containing all the required documentation and are to be guided by the naming conventions listed in the table below. As outlined in the same table, the ACR must be submitted in both Excel and PDF format. Submissions should be made within four months from the Trustee’s financial year end. All documentation should cover the previous calendar year. Naming Conventions: Licence Type Name of Document Files - Naming Convention Trustees of Family Trusts Board Resolution of Directors LHCode_YYYY_BRD.pdf Shareholding Structure / Organigram LHCode_YYYY_SSO.pdf Organisation Chart LHCode_YYYY_OC.pdf Annual Compliance Return LHCode_YYYY_ACR.pdf LHCode_YYYY_ACR.xlsm Audited Annual Financial Statements LHCode_YYYY_FS.pdf Other documents (if applicable) LHCode_YYYY_OTH￾Name of document.pdf D. Uploading of Annual Compliance Return Upon completion of the ACR and collection of the required supporting documents, all the documentation must be zipped into one zip file using the following naming convention: LHCode_YYYY.zip1 . 1 The “.zip” is not to be included in the file name as this is automatically created once the documents being submitted have been compressed into a Zip File.

Circular Triq l-Imdina, Zone 1 Central Business District, Birkirkara CBD 1010 +356 2144 1155 communications@mfsa.mt www.mfsa.mt The zip file should be uploaded through the LH Portal under the Trustees Annual Returns Project. Kindly refrain from including sub-folders within the zip file. Submissions are to be uploaded in .zip format only. The user making the submission will receive the below automated notification via e-mail if the above guidelines are followed and the Annual Compliance Return and supporting documents have been successfully submitted. Please note that it may take a few minutes or longer for the automated confirmation email to be received. Should you not receive any confirmation email within 24 hours, you are kindly requested to reach out to the Trustees and Company Service Providers Function.

Circular Triq l-Imdina, Zone 1 Central Business District, Birkirkara CBD 1010 +356 2144 1155 communications@mfsa.mt www.mfsa.mt E. Possible errors while uploading documentation on the LH Portal The hereunder are some possible errors that might be encountered should the above naming conventions not be adhered to. Consequently, the file will be rejected and not uploaded through the system. You are therefore kindly requested to ensure that users uploading the relevant returns check their inbox to ensure that a file upload result email is received and to address any of the possible errors outlined below at the earliest, as otherwise, the submission will not be deemed complete. Scenario 1: In the event the Zip file contains the correct naming convention, but the files within the Zip file do not follow the above guidelines on the naming convention of each document, the following email will be received, and the submission will fail:

Circular Triq l-Imdina, Zone 1 Central Business District, Birkirkara CBD 1010 +356 2144 1155 communications@mfsa.mt www.mfsa.mt Scenario 2: If the Zip file name does not follow the above guidelines, the following notification is received by email: Should you not be able to rectify the error after following the guidance provided in this Circular, or you need further clarification with respect to the changes related to the ACR for Trustees of Family Trusts, please direct your queries to the Trustees and Company Service Providers Supervision Function by emailing fiduciariesoffsite@mfsa.mt.