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4 NEWS 10.11.2022 NSO figures show that, in the first half of 2022, the total expenditure on contributory and noncontributory social benefits rose by €32.6m over the same period in 2021 and by €60.1m over the half of 2020. The increased expenditure on social benefits in the first half of 2022 pushed the total social protection expenditure in the same period to €987.6 million, putting its overall share of GDP at an estimated 14.7 per cent. social benefits FOLLOWING the successful launch of the "Buy Commission-Free" campaign earlier this year, MeDirect Bank Malta is relaunching this offer through which all brokerage fees are waived when pur- chasing securities available through the bank's WealthTech mobile app, online platform, as well as through its invest- ment centres, in person. e campaign is valid until 9 Decem- ber 2022. In addition, MeDirect continued en- hancing their capabilities and have launched a new functionality on its WealthTech trading platform - longer durations. is will allow clients to sub- mit orders; to buy or sell equities and ETFs on international stock exchanges with an expiry of up to six months in the future. Such orders will elapse after six months if the set limit price was not met in the market, unless cancelled manu- ally. erefore now, clients have the possibility of placing orders for such se- curities with the following three param- eters: day order, good until cancelled as well as good until date. Customers can choose their preferred investment from a huge selection of over 4,400 securities, including equi- ties listed on 17 international stock exchanges, several ETFs and Mutual Funds managed by international lead- ing fund houses, and also a selection of local and international bonds. e MeDirect WealthTech app ena- bles clients to have an all-in-one bank- ing solution which gives clients full control of their finances from one single platform, allowing them to monitor and manage their day-to-day finances, sav- ings and investments. Ian Dingli, Head of Digital Channels and UX/UI, at MeDirect said: "We con- tinuously strive to provide our clients with the best tools on the market to sat- isfy their investment needs. is is one of the many improvements that we will be delivering over the coming months. We will continue enhancing our offer- ing in line with our brand promise of making investments simple and acces- sible to all." e Buy Commission-Free offer in- cludes mutual fund buy orders, sub- mitted by 9 December 2022 as well as equity, ETF and bond buy orders, also executed until 9 December 2022. Buy orders executed after the end of the promotion, will incur the fees stipulat- ed in the tariffs and charges document, which is available on the MeDirect Mal- ta website. Stock exchange transaction fees, tax- es on stock exchange transactions and other third-party costs will continue to apply, alongside the current fees for sell transactions. FINANCEMALTA has been accept- ed as a member of the World Alliance of International Financial Centers (WAIFC). FinanceMalta's application to join the WAIFC was discussed and ac- cepted during the last Annual General Meeting, held recently in Casablanca, Morocco. With the addition of FinanceMalta, WAIFC now comprises 21 members. WAIFC, which was set up in 2018 in Paris, facilitates the cooperation be- tween financial centres, the exchange of best practices and communication with the general public. WAIFC is a non-profit association based in Brussels, and its members are are city governments, associations, and similar institutions developing and pro- moting their financial centres. Current members include eCityUK, Paris EUROPLACE, Luxembourg for Finance, Frankfurt Main Finance, Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council, FinCity.Tokyo, Italian Bank- ing, Insurance and Finance Federation, and Toronto Finance International, amongst others. e last AGM was hosted by Casa- blanca Finance City and was attended by almost 40 member and observer rep- resentatives. With the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 a few weeks away also in North Africa, a core focus of the AGM was around the work financial centres are conducting independently and collectively with re- gards to the green transition, circular economy and sustainable finance. George Vella, Chairman of Finance- Malta, attended the Casablanca AGM and said: "We are delighted that Fi- nanceMalta has been accepted as a full member of WAIFC at the recent AGM held in Casablanca. WAIFC brings to- gether financial centres from across the globe, sharing best practices and tackling issues that are common to all centres such as sustainable finance, in- novation and fintech, and human capi- tal. FinanceMalta will contribute to this dialogue, seeking to provide the alliance with insight from a small but dynamic European Union financial centre." Vella added that FinanceMalta and its members will benefit from being part of WAIFC by working at a global level with other financial services centres on vari- ous projects and initiatives, which will continue to increase Malta's exposure internationally and reaffirm the country as an innovator in financial services. Dr Jochen Biedermann, Managing Di- rector of the WAIFC, said: "We high- ly welcome FinanceMalta as a new WAIFC member. During my past visits, I got to know Malta as an extremely ac- tive and very innovative ecosystem for financial services and beyond. Add to that the special location in the south of the EU, between Italy and North Africa, which makes Malta an ideal bridgehead between the continents. e Finance- Malta team, with whom we have been working closely for some time, is highly professional, and the WAIFC manage- ment is very much looking forward to further, even more intensive exchanges." MeDirect Bank enhances WealthTech App, relaunches commission-free campaign FinanceMalta joins World Alliance of Financial Centers

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