According to our Malta Salary Guide, salaries for Legal Professionals and Compliance Officers have remained fairly stable in 2021 and more or less in the same range since 2020. The companies that are hiring in this sector in Malta are mostly in the iGaming Sector.
Malta continues to be a gateway to the EU with organisations expanding into new markets and organisations continuing to expand their Malta-based operations and expanding legal, counsel, regulatory and compliance functions. Corporate Service Providers and Consulting/Advising Firms have strong demand for these professionals due to their wide range of client portfolios. Candidates who are in demand need to have extensive knowledge in AML and Data Protection since these two sectors seem to be under the microscope in the current marketplace in Malta. Data Protection/Privacy Professionals are areas of growth for legal positions.
Over the past 6 months, we have seen some major changes. MLRO approval is now required by every company in the financial sector, including i-Gaming. Data Protection is becoming a specialised skill in organisations and in high demand mostly in i-Gaming companies. We see that they require a Data Protection Officer (DPO) separately from the Head of Compliance or a Legal Counsel, whereas before it was included in the responsibilities of the Head of Compliance or the Legal Counsel.
In iGaming, we see expansion into new markets such as Spain and Germany which has increased the demand for candidates who speak these languages to communicate better with the regulators in Spain and Germany equally.
It seems that the high command of responsibility that carries an MLRO in the last year has caused candidates to prefer positions within Compliance or fewer seniority positions in the AML sector causing less demand for the highest approval roles such as the MLRO PQ.
Since the start of the year, companies tend to be looking for regulatory compliance experience in combination with either AML or data protection. Employment stability is something that companies value. Candidates also tend to have more job offers to choose from and it seems they have a higher chance of receiving a counteroffer than before.
Remote flexibility is in demand from candidates. The hybrid work model is the most popular in this specialisation – but also adding more flexibility to this and allowing employees to work for short periods in their home countries if this is something they desire.
Flexitime is another benefit. Trends that have been noticed over the past 6 months has been the MLRO approval by MFSA (local regulator). This has become stricter in the past year. Companies require to have an in-house MLRO and the PQ process has been more meticulous than before.