ARQ Group provides a number of services within the corporate sector. A key offering is company incorporation and administration with a team of experienced administrators who are well versed in this area. After initial meetings with potential clients a clear mandate is developed and the initial structuring and tax advice is provided in detail. Subsequent phases include conclusion of due diligence and KYC procedures and once clearance is obtained from our internal Compliance Team, incorporation process may take place. This is a relatively straight forward process which can be concluded in a matter of days.
Our experienced administrators are also on hand to assist clients with opening of corporate accounts with domestic banks as well as to affect the obligatory registrations with the competent authorities. Once the company becomes active it is allocated to a member of the Administration team who will ensure that the directors of the company are provided with all the relevant support and assistance that they may need to run the business within the parameters set out by the Company’s Act. ARQ Group also provides full accounting services including regular VAT reporting, payroll and payroll tax reporting, preparation of annual accounts and annual tax returns following the conclusion of the audit of the company’s financial statements.
ARQ Group has also developed highly experienced teams that operate in specific industry sectors. This coming together of legal and accounting minds provides simplified solutions which remove the complications generally associated with operating Regulated Businesses. In fact ARQ Group has designated units to handle applications that fall to be regulated under the various acts and the principal, competent authorities in Malta, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) and the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA). ARQ Group’s Regulatory Unit can assist clients seeking to set up a range of activities in Malta from Insurance to Banking, Investment to Retirement and Remote Gaming. Apart from facilitating and supporting the initial application phases ARQ Group can provide a range of out sourced support services ranging from AML/Compliance, accounting, tax and VAT advisory as well as full scope legal support provided through FFF Legal.
Apart from corporate and accounting services ARQ Group is also in a position to provide full scope trust and fiduciary services. Financial and IT audits as well as system reviews are provided by the qualified and experienced teams within Capstone Assurance Services Ltd. whilst legal services including mergers and acquisitions, litigation, shipping and aviation are provided by FFF Legal.
Kris Baron, ARQ Group Partner New OECD changes to tax laws are changing the landscape for many companies across Europe. However, it does not make sense to treat Malta in the same way as countries with much larger economies such as Germany and France, ARQ Group partner Kris Baron tells MaltaProfile.
Kris Baron, Partner - ARQ Group Malta’s gaming industry reacts to the regulator's decision to suspend the licences of gaming companies due to alleged links with the Calabrian Mafia.
Kris Baron, ARQ Group Partner New OECD changes to tax laws are changing the landscape for many companies across Europe. However, it does not make sense to treat Malta in the same way as countries with much larger economies such as Germany and France, ARQ Group partner Kris Baron tells MaltaProfile.
Kris Baron, Partner - ARQ Group Malta’s gaming industry reacts to the regulator's decision to suspend the licences of gaming companies due to alleged links with the Calabrian Mafia.
Mr Nicholas Gouder Partner
Languages:
English, Maltese
Mr David Borg Partner
Dr Christian Farrugia Partner
Dr Tonio Fenech Partner
Kris Baron Partner
Manfred Galdes Partner
events
Mr Nicholas Gouder
Partner
CONNECT
LANGUAGES SPOKEN
English Maltese
Company Information
KEY EXECUTIVES
Mr David Borg
Partner
Dr Christian Farrugia
Partner
Dr Tonio Fenech
Partner
Kris Baron
Partner
Manfred Galdes
Partner
DATE
FOUNDED
21/11/2012
NUMBER OF
EMPLOYEES
11-20
COMPANY
TYPE
Limited Liability Company
LANGUAGES
SPOKEN
English, Italian, Maltese, Polish, Russian
Nicky Gouder, tax partner of ARQ Group, completed his Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants (ACCA) course in 2010. Following that, he specialised in taxation and completed a Diploma in Taxation offered by the Malta Institute of Taxation in 2011 and read for the Advanced Diploma in International Taxation provided by the Malta Institute of Management. He also graduated in Business Management from the University of Malta in 2007.
He is one of the three founding partners of the Capstone Group which was set up in 2010, specialising in accountancy, tax, audit and advisory.
Nicky is specialised in International Taxation with a focus on domestic legislation and has significant experience in handling a wide portfolio of local and international clients operating in various industry sectors. He is also a lecturer of the Advanced Taxation Module for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants course provided through the Malta Institute of Accountants and has participated in a number of tax conferences both on a domestic and international level.
Mr David Borg David is a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK) and the Malta Institute of Accountants. He is also a Member of the Malta Institute of Taxation and the Malta Institute of Financial Services Practitioners. David has several years’ experience working in the private sector where he held senior management positions with some of the larger international companies to operate out of Malta. In this capacity he has gained extensive experience particularly in the oil and gas, offshore manning, international tourism and real estate sectors.
In 2010, with his current partners, David founded the Capstone Group, a professional services organization providing audit & assurance, tax and business advisory as well as accounting services. David is the business advisory partner and in this role has advised various companies on business development, tax structuring and corporate governance issues.
David holds various directorships and acts as MLRO/Compliance Officer for Momentum Pensions, a company regulated by the MFSA. He is also a member of the EMEA Executive Board of Integra International, a global network of independent tax and audit professionals.
Dr Christian Farrugia A lawyer by profession, Dr. Christian Farrugia is one of the founding and co-managing partners of Fenech Farrugia Fiott Legal, a Malta based business and tax law firm with offices in Valletta and Swatar. With a post-graduate degree in Maritime and Insurance law conferred upon him by the University of London following his graduation as a doctor of laws in Malta in 1987, he counts commercial and corporate law, shipping and financial services within his main areas of specialization. Dr. Farrugia is also a founder director of ARQ Fiduciaries Ltd, an MFSA licensed fiduciary and trustee, as well as a non-executive Chairman director of Abbey International Insurance PCC Limited and Bawag Malta Bank Limited.
Dr Farrugia is a member of the Chamber of Advocates, the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Industry and lectures in shipping law at the University of Malta.
Dr Tonio Fenech Dr. Fenech has been a practicing lawyer for over 25 years, after qualifying in Malta and obtaining a Master Of Laws Degree from University of London. His areas of practice and study have evolved in line with the development and diversification of the Maltese economy since the early 1990’s, originally focusing on asset finance, to gradually include the corporate commercial, corporate finance, fiduciary relationships, financial & investment services fields.
Dr. Fenech pioneered a more modern and effective organization of legal services on the island, having created the international & corporate practice of Fenech & Fenech Advocates, now one of the larger organized practices in Malta, where he acted as managing partner from its organization as a partnership in 1991 until 2007. Dr. Fenech resigned from his family firm in 2008 to establish a new law firm under the name Fenech Farrugia Fiott Legal in January 2009, bringing together the accumulated experience also of co-managing partner Dr. Christian Farrugia and tax expert Dr. Antoine Fiott (ex PWC tax partner).
Dr. Fenech also serves as current Chairman of the TAP Knowledge Network, a network of independent professional services providers based in Malta, which has a stated objective of improving knowledge development and management across disciplines in the pursuit of more integrated solutions for clients.
Dr. Fenech is an occasional speaker at public events, and is also teaches asset finance law as well as the law of trusts and fiduciary relationships at the University of Malta. He is also the Honorary Consul of Lebanon in Malta.
Kris Baron Member of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (USA), Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK) and a Fellow of the Malta Institute of Accountants. Kris has worked as a senior auditor with the National Audit Office, where he managed various high level compliance, statutory and value-for-money audits of government owned corporations.
Kris was also a systems, financial and compliance auditor at the Lotteries & Gaming Authority (LGA) where he managed a wide portfolio of gaming operators and platforms. Kris is the Director in charge of regulatory and compliance matters and is responsible for i-gaming and e-commerce clients.
Kris is a Certified Information Systems Auditor and holds an Auditor’s warrant issued by the Malta Accountancy Board.
Manfred Galdes Dr Manfred Galdes is one of Malta’s foremost AML/CFT and compliance specialists, having formerly headed the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, the agency responsible for the regulation and supervision of all entities subject to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations. He joined the ARQ Group in September 2016 as Managing Director of ARQ Risk & Compliance, leading a multi-disciplinary team of professionals providing specialist advisory and support services to private and public entities in the field of AML/CFT and financial crime compliance. He is also a partner of Fenech Farrugia Fiott Legal, a Malta based law firm with offices in Valletta and Swatar.
During his tenure at the FIAU he spearheaded the development of an effective risk-based supervisory framework and dedicated himself to refining Malta’s capabilities in fighting financial crime. Over the years he also chaired various domestic committees and represented Malta on international bodies and expert groups set up to contribute to the establishment of EU and international AML/CFT standards and the evaluation of country and institutional compliance with these standards.
Dr Galdes has been involved in the drafting of various laws and lectures on the subject of prevention of money laundering and other areas of law. He was also responsible for co-ordinating Malta’s first AML/CFT National Risk Assessment.
After graduating Doctor of Laws from the University of Malta in 2001, Dr Galdes was then conferred the LL.M. degree in EU Commercial Law by the University of Leicester in 2006.
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