Robus has opened an office in Malta to give clients of the independent insurance management business ongoing ability to access the European Single Market.
The Malta office, in San Gwann, is licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority and complements the Robus presence in Guernsey and Gibraltar by providing its clients with a gateway to Europe.
Jonathan Abela, an insurance and risk professional who has worked in the Middle East and Europe for almost 30 years, has been hired to head up Robus’ Malta operation.
He and his colleagues are onboarding and servicing clients seeking an EU solution to their domiciliary requirements.
“We don’t exist for Brexit but we exist because some of our clients require the capability to be able to write risk in the EU beyond March 2019. That’s why we are resourcing Robus in Malta,” Mr Abela said.
In addition Malta has other advantages, being English speaking, in a UK-friendly time zone and offering legitimate fiscal benefits for certain structures.
Mr Abela is a chartered insurer with a technical background embracing most classes of insurance. He was previously chief operating officer and chief commercial officer at Aon Qatar and prior to that he worked for Bahrain National Insurance. He is returning to Malta, having started his insurance career there between 1991 and 2006.
Robus has also appointed senior accountant Matthew Ciantar. He spent five years at KPMG, working in Malta and the United States, before returning to Malta to focus on the insurance sector. His insurance accounting experience includes long-term and general business as well as traditional insurance structures and protected cell companies.
Non-executive chairman of the business is Maltese lawyer Angela Thorns who is widely experienced as a director and company secretary to regulated companies in the insurance and pensions sector.
Richard Le Tocq, CEO of Robus, said: “Obtaining our Malta licence at this pivotal time for business in Europe is extremely timely and will mean that we can offer genuinely independent advice to our clients whether they need to be in a European jurisdiction or otherwise.”
