A total of 9.96 million people across Europe and beyond shared their views on the future design of euro banknotes by completing the ECB’s public survey.

“This amazing number shows how much interest Europeans have in their future banknotes,” said President Christine Lagarde. “With them participating in the redesign process, an important step has been taken in preparing the next series of banknotes.”

2.6% of the euro area population took part in the survey, and interest was strong across all age groups, including younger generations, with two-thirds of responses coming from people under the age of 35. To ensure that the survey results accurately represent the euro area population, data will be analysed using standard statistical methods.

The survey ran between 23 July and 21 September 2026. It sought public opinions on ten shortlisted design proposals based on the themes “European culture” and “Rivers and birds”. A separate survey – run by an independent research company and targeting a representative sample of people in the euro area – was conducted using the same questions and is currently being finalised.

The results of the two surveys, together with the recommendations of the independent Design Contest Jury and a technical assessment, will inform the ECB Governing Council’s decision on the final design concept for the future euro banknotes, which is expected around the end of 2026. The ECB is not publishing the results for individual design proposals at this stage. After the decision, a detailed report on the surveys, including feedback on each proposal and results from different countries, will be published.

Following the Governing Council’s decision on the concept, the chosen design will be adapted and further developed to transform it into actual banknotes. The new banknotes will incorporate enhanced security features and improvements in accessibility and sustainability. The new banknotes should enter circulation gradually from the early 2030s. Euro banknotes currently in circulation will remain valid and continue to circulate alongside the new series.

The post Almost 10 million people took part in ECB survey on new euro banknotes first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The inaugural Malta Finance Week will take place from 13 – 15 October 2027. It will bring together regulators, industry leaders, policymakers, investors, academics and international stakeholders for a week of high-level panels, networking and thought leadership focused on the future of finance. 

The landmark event will showcase Malta’s financial services ecosystem and promote the jurisdiction as a credible, innovative and internationally connected financial centre. It will facilitate dialogue on the future of the sector, strengthen collaboration between the public and private sectors, and create opportunities for international engagement. 

The programme will be built around six themes: innovation and digital transformation; sustainable finance; capital markets and investment; FinTech and emerging technologies; regulatory excellence and resilience; and international competitiveness.

Malta Finance Week 2027 coincides with FinanceMalta’s 20th anniversary and the MFSA’s 25th anniversary, making the event an opportunity to reflect on the achievements to date while looking towards the next chapter. 

Kenneth Farrugia, Chief Executive Officer of the MFSA, said: “We are delighted to be launching Malta Finance Week as the premier platform on which to demonstrate to the world the depth and maturity of Malta’s financial services sector, and to set out our vision for the industry. It will bring together industry, policymakers, regulators and international peers, with meaningful cross-sector dialogue being essential to preparing financial services for the challenges and opportunities ahead. Trust, stability and market integrity remain the foundation of everything we do, and it is precisely on that strong foundation that innovation can flourish responsibly within a robust regulatory framework. We look forward to illustrating this at Malta Finance Week.” 

George Vella, Chairman of FinanceMalta, said: “Malta’s success as an international financial centre has always been built on collaboration across the whole ecosystem, from practitioners and regulators to policymakers and investors. Malta Finance Week will bring that ecosystem together and showcase it to a global audience. The event is an opportunity to show the world what Malta offers, to open doors for investment, and to set the agenda for ensuring the future competitiveness of our flourishing financial services industry.” 

Malta Finance Week is intended to become a permanent fixture in the international calendar. By bringing the sector’s full ecosystem together in one place, it will reinforce the jurisdiction’s reputation for combining innovation with strong regulation and give participants a front-row seat to the opportunities emerging in FinTech, digital assets and sustainable finance. Over time, the event is expected to support long-term growth and international visibility for the sector while providing a lasting platform for thought leadership and industry collaboration.

A short film introducing Malta Finance Week was premiered at the launch and is available here. Further details on the programme, venue, speakers and registration will be announced in the coming months.

The post MFSA and FinanceMalta launch Malta Finance Week 2027 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

During a meeting with Delta Air Lines Vice President Scott Jordan, discussions focused on the performance of the direct route between New York – JFK and Malta, which began operating three times a week in June this year. The route recorded an average seat load factor of 84% up to 21 September. An encouraging result that reflects strong demand for this direct connection.

In light of this positive performance, discussions focused on the possibility of extending the route into 2027. Further collaboration to promote Malta in the American market was also discussed. The Prime Minister noted that the direct connection to New York is already delivering added value for tourism and business while opening up further opportunities for connectivity with the US market.

In a separate meeting with BlackRock, one of the world’s largest investment management companies, discussions centred on opportunities for further investment in Malta. The Prime Minister highlighted the strong performance of the Maltese economy, the country’s stability and the ongoing work to attract high-quality investment in strategic and innovative sectors.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister stressed that Malta must remain a credible and competitive partner for international investors, while ensuring that the investment attracted to the country continues to create quality jobs and new opportunities for Maltese and Gozitan workers and businesses.

“These meetings reflect our continued efforts to strengthen Malta’s connectivity and attract further high-quality investment to our country. Our objective is clear. To build a stronger and more competitive economy that creates better opportunities for people, businesses and future generations,” said Prime Minister Robert Abela.

The post PM Abela meets leading international companies to strengthen Malta’s connectivity and attract further investment first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

 (i)             4.30% Malta Government Stock 2037 (II); and

 (ii)           4.50% Malta Government Stock 2041 (III)

The sum of money to be raised may be increased further by an additional amount of up to a maximum of two hundred million Euro (€200,000,000) in the event of oversubscription.

Members of the public who are interested to invest may apply for an amount up to a maximum of four hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred Euro (€499,900) per person in any one or in each of the two stocks on offer. Application forms can be made by one person or jointly with other person or persons.    The applications for members of the public open from Monday, 5 October 2026 at 8.30am and close at 2.30pm on Wednesday, 7 October 2026, or earlier at the discretion of the Accountant General.

Applications from wholesale investors in the form of sealed bids (auction) open on Friday, 9 October 2026 at 8.30am and close at 12pm (noon – local time) of the same day, or earlier at the discretion of the Accountant General.

The Accountant General shall be announcing the price for each stock offered for subscription by members of the public on Thursday, 1 October 2026. These prices shall be published through a Press Release by the Department of Information (DOI).

The allotment results of each stock to applicants whose applications are in the form of sealed bids (auction) will be determined and announced two hours after the closing time of the auction.

Retail application forms may be obtained from and lodged at all members of the Malta Stock Exchange and other authorised investment service providers.  Application forms may also be downloaded from the Treasury’s website (https://treasury.gov.mt/en/services/) with effect from Friday, 2 October 2026.

The post New Issue of Fixed Rate Malta Government Stocks – October 2026 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Major global indices have slumped into volatile sell-offs as tech-driven momentum faltered and risk-off sentiment spread across trading floors worldwide. What initially triggered this broad-based deterioration was a sudden collision of escalating geopolitical instability in critical energy corridors and the sharp re-acceleration of wholesale fuel costs, which together shattered any assumptions of an orderly, disinflationary soft landing. The market turbulence of recent sessions is no longer a localised correction; it marks the moment investors finally recognised that the underlying macroeconomic environment has taken an aggressive turn for the worse.

The initial shock originated in the global commodity complex, where supply-side disruptions rapidly reignited cost-push price pressures. Brent crude surged back beyond triple digits, compounded by sharp upward jumps in natural gas benchmarks and severe midstream bottlenecks in refined distillates such as diesel. Because transport fuels and primary energy feed directly into freight rates, industrial manufacturing, and agricultural production, the secondary pass-through into core services and food prices proved remarkably fast. This dynamic has dismantled expectations of imminent relief for household budgets, directly eroding real disposable incomes while forcing industry to contend with renewed margin compression.

Confronted with this sudden resurgence of price pressures, major monetary authorities have been forced to adopt an aggressive posture. Central banks, notably the European Central Bank alongside the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, have halted anticipated easing cycles or pivoted back toward active tightening. Rather than offering liquidity backstops to fragile real economies, the ECB and its peers are prioritizing mandate credibility, holding benchmark policy rates at restrictive levels and accelerating quantitative tightening to shrink balance sheets. This resolute monetary squeeze has drained liquidity from the banking system, elevated debt servicing costs across commercial credit lines, and effectively removed the central-bank safety net that markets had taken for granted over the past decade.

This monetary clampdown has precipitated an acute revolt across global fixed income markets, where sovereign yields have climbed to multi-decade peaks. The link between sovereign debt and borrowing costs is deeply non-linear, creating profound structural risks for the European Union and the stability of the eurozone single currency. Several member states currently carry debt-to-GDP ratios well above the 100 percent threshold, leaving them acutely vulnerable to sovereign bond market refinancing stress. As existing, ultra-low-coupon debt matures, these high-debt sovereigns must roll over hundreds of billions of euros at current high interest rates. If international investors demand escalating risk premia to absorb new debt issuances, bond spreads between core European economies and the southern or peripheral members will widen sharply. This dynamic threatens to re-fragment eurozone sovereign bond yields, straining the ECB’s transmission protection mechanisms and exposing the euro to the existential financial fractures last witnessed during the sovereign debt crisis.

Beyond Europe, the liquidity squeeze is hitting emerging and frontier economies with devastating force. A strong dollar and double-digit hard-currency financing costs have effectively shut vulnerable sovereign borrowers out of international capital markets. Because food and fuel represent disproportionately high shares of consumption in these jurisdictions, imported inflation and widening credit spreads have triggered severe domestic financial distress, leaving numerous governments spending substantially more on external debt servicing than on healthcare, infrastructure, and basic public investment.

Compounding this financial strain is the erosion of global trade as a shock absorber. Instead of facilitating cross-border adjustment, international trade has become an engine of friction. The pre-emptive front-loading of shipments designed to evade rising tariff walls has run its course, leaving behind structurally fragmented supply chains, reshoring mandates, and retaliatory duties that systematically raise intermediate production costs. At the same time, governments have exhausted the fiscal buffers that cushioned previous downturns, having spent their counter-cyclical reserves on pandemic relief and subsequent energy subsidies, leaving public treasuries with virtually no fiscal room to orchestrate fresh interventions.

For an open, import-dependent island economy like Malta, this international tempest introduces possible domestic transmission channels, creating substantial inflationary pressures and economic growth headwinds. Because Malta imports virtually all of its consumer goods, industrial inputs, and food supplies, higher international maritime freight rates and elevated external producer prices inevitably feed directly into domestic core inflation, particularly through the food and services baskets. While the government’s policy of blanket energy and fuel subsidies insulates consumers from direct utility price spikes, an escalating global commodity shock significantly enlarges the state’s subsidy expenditure bill, consuming fiscal space that would otherwise support productive capital expenditure and long-term infrastructural upgrades. On the growth front, Malta’s primary economic drivers—tourism, transshipment logistics, and international services—are acutely sensitive to the financial health of the wider European continent. As prolonged ECB monetary tightening squeezes real disposable household incomes and dampens consumer confidence across major source markets like the UK, Germany, and Italy, inbound travel spend and external service demand could naturally decelerate. Constrained by physical capacity bottlenecks and rising intermediate operating costs, Maltese enterprises could face narrowing margins and an increasingly sluggish external market.

The international economy is now crossing an exceptionally precarious threshold as the temporary cushions that previously softened macro shocks dissolve. If elevated energy costs, restrictive monetary conditions, and sovereign refinancing pressures persist, the global economy faces a severe and synchronised stagnation. As history repeatedly teaches us, prolonged economic turbulence of this magnitude never remains confined to balance sheets and financial models. Sustained contractions in living standards, systemic sovereign debt strain, and widespread cost-of-living crises inevitably erode public trust, fuel institutional fragmentation, and trigger profound political repercussions that can reshape nations and dismantle international alliances.

The post The gathering international economic storm first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Three years after Giorgia Meloni’s government revived the long-dormant Messina Bridge project, however, the most striking feature of Italy’s €13.5 billion plan is not the engineering challenge. It is the extraordinary political, legal and institutional machinery that has grown around it.

The bridge was relaunched by Meloni’s government in 2023, with Transport Minister Matteo Salvini becoming its most prominent political champion. The proposed 3.7 kilometre suspension bridge is intended to connect Sicily with Calabria and become the world’s longest suspension bridge. Yet despite repeated declarations that construction was imminent, the project is still navigating approvals and scrutiny. The current timetable envisages the project entering its implementation phase by the end of 2026 and opening to traffic in 2034.

That is a considerable shift from the government’s earlier timetable. In 2025, the project had received a green light from the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development, or CIPESS, but the Court of Auditors subsequently refused to register the resolution. The court raised questions over environmental compliance, changes to the existing contract and other procedural and financial issues. A November 2025 ruling also raised concerns over EU environmental and procurement requirements.

Nevertheless, Rome has refused to abandon the project. Instead, the government changed the legal framework and continued working to address the objections. The company responsible for the bridge says that the revised framework has dealt with the Court of Auditors’ concerns and that the project remains fully funded at an estimated €13.5 billion. It also says discussions with the European Commission have continued without an infringement procedure being opened.

The political determination to push ahead is perhaps understandable. Supporters portray the bridge as a long-term investment in southern Italy, improving transport connections between Sicily and the mainland and completing part of the European transport corridor running towards Palermo. For Salvini in particular, it has become a symbol of Italy’s ability to deliver major infrastructure rather than endlessly debate it. But that political symbolism may also explain why the project has become so difficult to separate from politics.

In June 2026, prosecutors in Rome opened a corruption investigation connected to the bridge’s approval process. Three people were investigated, including a former deputy president of the Court of Auditors, a lawyer who had previously served on the board of Stretto di Messina, and an entrepreneur. According to investigators, the suspects allegedly attempted to influence the Court of Auditors’ examination of the project. At this stage, these are allegations under investigation, not established findings of guilt.

Throughout much of the Messina Strait bridge saga, attention has also turned to a second problem that has shadowed the project for decades: organised crime.

The risk is not merely a cinematic fear of the Sicilian Mafia infiltrating a construction site. Large infrastructure projects generate thousands of contracts, subcontracting opportunities, land transactions, transport services and supply-chain relationships. That creates opportunities for organised crime to exploit legitimate economic activity, particularly in territories where the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and Calabrian ’ndrangheta have historically demonstrated extensive economic reach.

Italy’s National Anti-Corruption Authority, ANAC, explicitly warned Parliament in March that construction of the bridge would “attract” organised crime and called for strengthened controls and strict restrictions on subcontracting.

The concern is already becoming tangible as preparatory procedures advance. In September, the start of expropriation procedures prompted warnings that compensation for land could potentially reach properties controlled by organised crime groups. Stretto di Messina has responded that legality protocols are in place.

There is also a historical precedent. As criminologist Anna Sergi has documented for the Royal United Services Institute, previous attempts to develop the bridge attracted individuals with alleged links to organised crime, including a 2005 case involving attempted involvement in the project and bid-rigging. This shows that projects worth billions create opportunities for illegal actors not necessarily by controlling the entire construction contract, but by exploiting the layers surrounding it.

Moreover, this may be the central lesson of the Messina saga. The greatest threat to a mega-project is not always that it cannot be built. It is that the politics surrounding its construction become almost as complicated as the structure itself.

Italy now has to demonstrate that the bridge can survive scrutiny from courts, regulators, European institutions and anti-corruption authorities while preventing organised crime from turning public investment into private revenue. After decades of promises, that would be a more meaningful test of whether Italy can finally build its bridge than another declaration that construction is about to begin. For now, the Strait remains crossed by ferries. And the bridge remains a political project trying to become an infrastructure project.

The post Messina–Calabria: A bridge too far first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Economic sluggishness in the EU

It is true that when, in 2022, I spoke of the economic hardships that would ensue, I was ahead of the curve. My point back then was not to appease any aggressors, but to find ways to ensure a lighter impact on Europe because economies couldn’t bear another shock. The pandemic shock wrought havoc on several economies that were still recovering from the financial crisis a decade earlier. Indeed, the 2015 Juncker Plan was to leverage budgets, engage the private sector, and promote an ecosystem that facilitates business to match the pre financial crisis level of private investment. The pandemic undid all of this, and what followed in 2022 — the energy shock — was fatal for several European economies. To make matters worse, the wars in Ukraine and the wider Middle East, together with global tariff escalations, have brought some of the EU’s economies to their knees.

When I speak of energy shocks or other exogenous economic shocks, we need to see the entire picture. These shocks feed into our system, into each level of economic activity. An energy shock, with inflation hitting double digit levels in Europe, sent another shock through many sectors, including cement, concrete, iron, and all the raw materials needed to build our infrastructure, our homes, and commercial buildings. Coupled with speculation, it didn’t help the housing market, and obviously prices soared. We are at a critical point, not just in the EU, but globally. Malta did a lot to help its people, businesses, and those in need. However, we need to revisit many policies introduced long ago to ensure that those at the lowest end of the salary band are lifted out of the risk of poverty. When we consider the shocks I’ve mentioned, some markets are in a new state after reaching a tipping point, due to distinct feedback loops feeding into the system. One of these markets is the housing market.

The right wing movements across the EU

For this reason, we must admit that, from a political point of view, examining how economies are structured and behaving is not helpful. We have the far right parties soaring in popularity. And the reason for this is positively correlated with economic sluggishness and the importation of rightist narratives into Europe. Certainly, we cannot compare the political fabric and social structure of the EU with that of the US. The two operate on opposing axes for different reasons, primarily cultural. The EU was born from the ashes of the Second World War. And it takes a bit of depth to understand what I am about to say. Indeed, the far right parties in Europe are masking themselves as friendly. Let me focus for a minute on Germany. Friedrich Merz doesn’t know what hit him with the current regional results, and even more so with the economic impacts that are leaving a lasting scar on Germany’s economy. However, the far right and Alice Weidel are playing chess by portraying the latter as approachable. No minority, and even less so no academic with a deep political and economic background and historical insights into Europe, would vote for Alice Weidel. Alice Weidel is being presented as a poster figure to soften the AfD’s image and alienate the German electorate from the party’s underlying ideological positions. Think about it, why would a leader of a political party choose to live primarily in a neighbouring country while officially maintaining her registered residence in Germany? Alice Weidel’s family home is in Switzerland, not Germany.

Wrapping alternative leaders in a nice wrapper

When digging further, one can notice that everything is ready lest they win the Bundestag anytime soon, and before 2029. Alice Weidel’s image and the political philosophy that is promoted, fomenting a narrative against certain minorities, are incompatible and cannot be regarded as complete. It’s built on a false image and a narrative that is too blatant to go unnoticed; or at least those with some analytical skills can see through it. The wrapper is one thing; the content inside is another. Alice Weidel’s personal life and the AfD’s political philosophy are on two opposing axes. Sadly, I must admit that if the EU, as well as the Germans, aren’t brave enough to prevent the inevitable, then we are heading for tough times.

Now, the EU must assess the negotiations from an MFF perspective and determine which funds can be allocated to mitigate the impact of rising diesel prices. The price of diesel has soared, due in part to geopolitical instability in the Middle East, disruptions in the Red Sea, and the ongoing war in Ukraine. These events have affected refinery output, shipping routes, and supply chains. As a result, diesel prices at fuel stations have outpaced crude oil prices. It is also a matter of supply constraints, with demand increasing to service our economies.

Mistaking the image with the underlying political ideology

Normally, I do not write about foreign politicians, except for von der Leyen, and I aim to find an alternative where countries and leaders can work together. However, having a leader of the most important and powerful country in the EU promoted to the public in a way that packages her as favourable to minorities simply because of the image that she is a lesbian in a registered partnership with a Sri Lankan, while simultaneously advancing a narrative that contradicts that image, is deeply worrying. If we want to regulate economic migration we need to tackle the root cause. And the root cause is the way the EU economies have been shaped over the past decades and the low fertility rate.

To conclude, those who use these narratives to win a seat in a federal or general election are only sowing the seeds of a future political movement that will eventually haunt and devour them, because they can never keep their promises. They can get rid of a few people. But that would be for the media to scapegoat. For the rest, additional thousands will be joining the EU’s economies without noticing. And that is what will happen in every Member State, unless the fertility rate soars. Well, do take note!

The post When alternative leaders are packaged in a nice wrapper first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Rooted in a shared focus on understanding the needs, ambitions, and challenges faced by students today, the collaboration reflects RSM Malta’s continued focus on engaging with future professionals in a way that is practical, relevant, and human-centred.

ASCS is a non-profit student organisation representing students within the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy (FEMA) at the University of Malta, comprising a community of approximately 2,000 students. Founded in the early 1980s, ASCS emerged from a clear need to provide students with a collective voice during the formative years of the Faculty. While its scope and initiatives have evolved over time, the organisation continues to be guided by its core values of representation, advocacy, and community.

Through this collaboration, RSM Malta will be actively involved across a range of student-focused initiatives aimed at helping students better understand the transition from academic life to the workplace. This includes contributing to engagements that provide practical insight into the realities of the business environment, creating space for open dialogue, and offering students a clearer understanding of the expectations and opportunities within the profession.

The emphasis of the partnership is on direct and meaningful interaction, creating opportunities for students to ask questions, gain perspective, and engage directly with professionals. This extends to career-focused initiatives, internships, and recruitment opportunities, allowing students to connect their academic experience with real-world application.

Commenting on the collaboration, Karen Spiteri Bailey, managing partner at RSM Malta, said: “At RSM Malta, we place strong importance on listening and understanding, whether it is our clients, our people, or the professionals of tomorrow. Through this collaboration with ASCS, we aim to create opportunities for students to engage with the profession in a way that is open, practical, and grounded in real experiences, helping them feel more confident in the decisions they take moving forward.”

Also commenting, Nicole Azzopardi, ASCS president, said: “Our collaboration with RSM Malta allows us to give students greater visibility into the professional world, while creating opportunities that go beyond the classroom. It supports our aim of helping students grow not only academically, but also in how they prepare for their future careers.”

RSM Malta remains committed to initiatives that support education, professional development, and long-term talent growth. Through collaborations such as this, the firm continues to invest in building relationships with students early on, contributing to a stronger, more connected professional community.

For more information about RSM Malta visit www.rsm.global/malta

The post RSM Malta partners with ASCS for student career development first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Through the renewed agreement, EY Malta will leverage its extensive expertise to provide consultancy services and support The Malta Chamber in the development of national policy positions and recommendations. This collaboration will focus on key areas addressed by The Malta Chamber’s Business Sections and Horizontal Thematic Committees, providing valuable expertise and insights to support the Chamber’s ongoing work in representing the interests of the private sector in national discussions. The renewed alliance builds on the longstanding relationship between the two organisations and their shared commitment to fostering a competitive, resilient and sustainable business environment. EY Malta has previously supported The Malta Chamber through its expertise in a range of areas relevant to Malta’s economic development and business community.

Commenting on the renewal, William Spiteri Bailey, President of The Malta Chamber, said: “We are pleased to renew our Gold Collaboration Alliance with EY Malta, strengthening a relationship that continues to bring significant value to The Malta Chamber and the wider business community. At a time when Malta is facing important economic and structural challenges, access to high-quality expertise and evidence-based insights is essential. EY Malta’s contribution will support our Business Sections and Horizontal Thematic Committees in developing well-informed policy positions and recommendations that reflect the realities and needs of businesses operating in Malta.”

Ronald Attard, Country Managing Partner at EY Malta, added: “This renewed collaboration reflects our shared commitment to Malta’s long-term competitiveness and resilience. By combining The Malta Chamber’s close understanding of the business community with EY Malta’s multidisciplinary expertise, we can help translate evidence-based insights into practical policy recommendations. We look forward to continuing to support the Chamber’s Business Sections and Horizontal Thematic Committees and to contributing constructively to Malta’s economic and policy discussions.”

The renewed collaboration will further facilitate the exchange of knowledge and expertise between EY Malta and The Malta Chamber, supporting the Chamber’s role as a leading voice for the private sector and its engagement in national economic and policy discussions.

The post The Malta Chamber and EY Malta renew Gold Collaboration Alliance first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Set on the last remaining undeveloped beachfront parcel on this prime stretch of Grace Bay, the project is being led by Corinthia Real Estate Ventures (C-REV) – the Group’s real estate investment and development arm under Managing Partners Marcus Pisani and Alex Chazkel – and the completed resort will be managed by Corinthia Hotels.

The development will comprise a ultra-luxury Corinthia branded hotel and a limited collection of fully serviced branded residences, including beachfront villas, casitas, and condominiums.

Karen Cummings, a managing member of Carolina Partners Ltd, first visited Turks and Caicos more than 25 years ago and was overwhelmed by its natural beauty and the kindness of its people. Her vision for the opportunity led to the acquisition of the first parcel of land at that time and the acquisition of additional parcels over the next 25 years.

The site is the premier location on Grace Bay, which has been rated as the best and most beautiful beach in the world.  Karen’s dream was to bring something very special to Turks & Caicos to add to its unique beauty. After discussions with many potential partners, it was clear that Corinthia was the group that could fulfill that dream. Their culture, standards of design, and service are unmatched and their growing portfolio of luxury 5-Star hotels and residences throughout Europe, North America and the Middle East will bring something unique to Grace Bay. 

Simon Naudi, CEO of Corinthia Group, said, “The Cummings family has held an extraordinary piece of Grace Bay for more than 25 years and we are delighted to be partnering with them to realise its potential. This project is another important step in Corinthia’s international growth, bringing together exceptional real estate, aligned capital partners, and our development and hotel management expertise.”

Marcus Pisani, Managing Partner of Corinthia Real Estate Ventures, adds, “This partnership brings together the Cummings family’s deep connection to Turks & Caicos with C-REV’s development and investment capabilities. Grace Bay is a truly exceptional setting, and we look forward to creating a landmark project that reflects the quality of the site and the Corinthia brand.”

Alex Chazkel, Managing Partner of Corinthia Real Estate Ventures, said, “This is a rare opportunity to develop a world-class hotel and branded residential destination in one of the Caribbean’s most sought-after locations. We are excited to be working with the Cummings family and to be launching this as the first in a series of high-profile projects that C-REV is bringing forward in North America. This project will be added to our existing portfolio of hotel/residence properties in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. The portfolio is growing rapidly with recently opened or announced projects in Malta, Italy (Rome, Lake Como, Tuscany), Maldives, North America and the Middle East.”

The resort has been meticulously planned to maximise the value of its exceptional beachfront position while integrating architecture, landscape, and the natural coastal environment. In addition to the hotel and branded residences, amenities will include a spa and wellness centre, multiple swimming pools, a beach club, signature restaurants, retail, padel courts, and curated lifestyle experiences.

The architectural vision draws inspiration from the calm, shallow waters of the Caicos Banks, with an emphasis on understated design, natural ventilation, and a strong connection between indoor and outdoor living.

The project is proceeding towards formal planning approval, with construction currently expected to commence in 2027. The Turks & Caicos development marks C-REV’s entry into North America and represents a significant addition to Corinthia’s growing global portfolio of luxury hotels, resorts, and residences.

The post Corinthia partners with Carolina Partners Ltd. to develop ultra-luxury hotel and branded residences in Turks & Caicos first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.