Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1355470
5 NEWS 25.3.2021 FROM PAGE1 Finance minister Clyde Caruana said yesterday that the Guarantee Scheme (CGS), including the moratorium on the repayment of bank loans, has been extended by another six months to expire in September 2021. The tax deferral scheme has also been extended, meaning employers can postpone paying all eligible taxes due until the end of the year. All payments of such taxes will therefore start as of May 2022. Fur- thermore, businesses will not incur any interest or penalties on taxes deferred as a result of the scheme. Caruana said that businesses that have pending tax balances will be given a one-time concession to settle the tax owed. is includes an exemption on capital gains taxes when selling property and will apply according to the amount of revenue received from the sale of property by the date of the promise of sale agreement. e promise of sale agreement needs to be registered by March 2022. Caruana noted that the Malta Development Fund was exploring ways to help mitigate the long-term economical effects of the pandemic, including pro- viding safety nets for "good businesses" that are not in a position to pay their expenses at present. COVID-19 guarantee scheme, moratoria and tax deferral for businesses extended MEDIRECT, a digital bank deliver- ing access to market-leading financial products, is expanding its product suite by launching their home loan product in the Maltese market. The launch of home loans is part of MeDirect Bank's strategy of diversify- ing its product range in the local mar- ket. Whether clients are looking to buy a new property or refinance their ex- isting home loan, MeDirect helps re- move the complexity of taking out a home loan, and ensures a personalised service, with a faster and market-lead- ing turnaround, for the issuance of sanction letters. Appreciating that buying a home is one of the most stressful experiences in one's life, MeDirect's advisors are set up to being there in helping clients every step of the way, having the flex- ibility of setting up meetings around clients' schedules and preferred loca- tions. Time is valuable and, therefore, the bank created one of the easiest pro- cesses on the island by enabling cli- ents to submit all home loan docu- mentation required online, therefore reducing the number of times a cli- ent would need to physically visit the bank's offices. MeDirect Bank Malta will be assist- ing clients with the financing for both their primary and secondary residen- tial properties, at competitive rates. MeDirect will not be charging any loan processing, booking, commitment or legal fees which are typically associat- ed when taking out a home loan. In addition, the Bank will be partial- ly refunding notarial and/or architect fees to its clients. Arnaud Denis, Chief Executive Of- ficer of MeDirect said: "Offering in- novative and attractive home loans to the Maltese market, is part of our core strategy in continuing to deepen and broaden our product offering and re- lationships with our clients." He added: "Our focus is to provide a differentiated service from the cur- rent market players, primarily, a more digitalised approach with faster turn- around timeframes and competitive pricing strategy. This will be achieved through customer-centric home loan advisors, together with fair and trans- parent fees." Interested clients may contact Me- Direct Bank on 25574400 or on MT- Mortgages@medirect.com.mt. One can also obtain more information by visiting www.medirect.com.mt/ home-loans, where amongst other in- formation, one can also find a home loan calculator to estimate one's eligi- ble maximum loan amount, and also get an idea of what the monthly loan repayments will be. MeDirect Bank launches home loans in the Maltese market ROY Kinnear will join Air Malta as its new Chief Commercial Officer. He will lead the Airline's Commer- cial Division and his responsibilities will include revenue management, pricing, sales, marketing, customer experience, flight scheduling and the airline's network. His appointment comes into effect on 5 April. Kinnear is a seasoned and experi- enced airline professional and prior to joining Air Malta he held various senior executive positions with ma- jor European and Gulf carriers. He holds of a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics and Statistics from the University of Ulster. Air Malta appoints new Chief Commercial Officer Roy Kinnear Finance minister Clyde Caruana