In a statement on its website, HMRC said that with effect from 18 January 2013, the new European Wholesale Securities Market (EWSM) meets the Revenue’s interpretation of “listed”, and will also be regarded “as a recognised stock exchange for inheritance tax purposes”.
As reported, the EWSM was formed last year by the Irish Stock Exchange, which owns 80% of the joint venture, and the Maltese exchange, which owns the rest. It is being run and regulated out of Malta.
It was created to handle so-called “complex debt listings” which, as explained in a joint announcement last year by the two exchanges, it does by offering issuers and arrangers of wholesale fixed-income debt securities “access to an EU-regulated market…supported by the expertise of a dedicated listing agency service”.
The EWSM is described as having been designed to complement the products currently available to investors from both exchanges.
In addition to creating a new venue for trading products normally exchanged in one-to-one over the counter transactions, the EWSM is seen as potentially bringing new customers to investment specialities that are well established in one of the jurisdictions but not in the other.
Malta and Ireland, which share the distinction of being English-speaking EU jurisdictions, have a history of collaborating on regulatory matters – for example, when Maltese fund managers seek to use administrators based in Ireland, which is a larger and longer-established financial centre.
