S.L. 370.32 Art. 17Eligibility criteria.

(1) The depositary of a Maltese UCITS shall have an established place of business in Malta.

(2) The following entities shall be eligible to provide custody services to a UCITS:

(a) a national central bank;

(b) a credit institution authorised in accordance with the CRD and in possession of a licence issued in terms of the Banking Act;

(c) a branch established in Malta of a credit institution authorised in a Member State or EEA State;

(d) a company incorporated in Malta, which is wholly owned by a credit institution, provided that the liabilities of the company are guaranteed by the credit institution, and the credit institution is either a Maltese credit institution or a credit institution established in an EU Member State or an EEA State and authorised in accordance with the CRD: Provided that the entity referred to in this paragraph

(d) shall be required to have a minimum of one director who is resident in Malta on its board of directors;

(e) an investment firm or branch of an investment firm established in a Member State or EEA State other than Malta subject to capital adequacy requirements in accordance with the IFD and the IFR including capital requirements for operational risks and authorised in accordance with MIFID and which also provides the ancillary service of safe-keeping and administration of financial instruments for the account of clients, including custody and related services such as cash or collateral management in accordance with point (1) of Section B of Annex I of MIFID: Provided that such investment firms shall in any case have own funds not less than the amount of initial capital referred to in Article 9(1) of the IFD, as transposed in the Investment Services Rules: Provided further that the entity referred to in this paragraph shall be required to have a minimum of one (1) director who is resident in Malta on its board of directors.

(3) The entities referred to in sub-regulation (2) shall be in possession of a licence issued in accordance with article 6 of the Act to provide depositary services.

(4) An entity which is referred to in sub-regulation (2)(c), (d) and (e) shall be subject to prudential regulation and ongoing supervision and shall satisfy the following minimum requirements:

(a) it shall have the infrastructure necessary to keep in custody financial instruments that can be registered in a financial instruments account opened in the depositary’s books;

(b) it shall establish adequate policies and procedures sufficient to ensure compliance of the entity, including its managers and employees, with its obligations in terms of these regulations;

(c) it shall have sound administrative and accounting procedures, internal control mechanisms, effective procedures for risk assessment and effective control and safeguard arrangements for information processing systems;

(d) it shall maintain and operate effective organisational and administrative arrangements with a view to taking all reasonable steps designed to prevent conflicts of interest;

(e) it shall arrange for records to be kept of all services, activities and transactions that it undertakes, which shall be sufficient to enable the competent authority to fulfil its supervisory tasks and to perform the enforcement actions provided for in these regulations as well as in the applicable Investment Services Rules;

(f) it shall take reasonable steps to ensure continuity and regularity in the performance of its depositary functions by employing appropriate and proportionate systems, resources and procedures including to perform its custody activities;

(g) all members of the management body and the senior management of the said entity shall at all times be of sufficiently good repute and possess sufficient knowledge, skills and experience;

(h) the management body of the said entity shall possess adequate collective knowledge, skills and experience to be able to understand the depositary’s activities, including the main risks; and

(i) each member of the management body and senior management shall act with honesty and integrity. (5) Repealed by Legal Notice 189 of 2026.