20 - 26 September 2001

Electronic processing and management of money

A three-year inward investment marketing initiative – ‘emoneymalta’ – was launched on Tuesday by the Malta Financial Services Centre. The aim is to position the country as a leading centre for the management, processing and movement of money electronically.
This international marketing drive has been designed to ensure that Malta continues to benefit from the global telecommunications revolution and continues to build its financial services economy.
By way of this initiative, money can be managed, processed and moved electronically through mobile phones, personal computers and similar devices. The campaign to attract new investment and jobs is targeted at financial services companies, mobile phone operators, Internet companies and service providers, hotel and car hire groups.
Speaking at the launch, Finance Minister John Dalli said technology convergence and development would make the use of e-money a common part of life in the next decade.
Mr Dalli said the initiative was the beginning of a long-term effort to put Malta firmly on the map as a knowledge-based economy. “There are many good reasons why businesses should invest in Malta. Over the next few years we want the world to come to Malta for one reason: we have a clever people and that is exactly what today’s businesses need.”
“We want the success of commercial concerns to be a national success so that there will be more opportunities for our people, more money in our economy and so that our eco-nomy will continue to modernise. Emoneymalta is an important development in helping to create a better future for all Maltese,” he said.
Malta Financial Services Centre chairman Prof. Joe Bannister said e-money sees money stored as code on devices such as mobile phones and PCs and the system has the ability to make substantial reductions in processing and administrative costs for many types of business.
On average, it costs around US$8 to process an airline ticket bought with a credit card, while with an e-money system the processing cost will be brought down to around US$1. The emoneymalta initiative has the endorsement of many Maltese businesses, including telecommunications companies, banks, fund managers, insurance companies, software suppliers and electronic equipment manufacturers.
“Having the support of these businesses adds enormous credibility to our efforts to persuade inward investors to put Malta high on their lists of potential locations. It also helps to show just how advanced and sophisticated the Maltese economy is,” Prof. Bannister said.