Cap. 204 Art. 2Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"Bank" means the Central Bank of Malta established by article 3;

''bank'' or ''credit institution'' has the same meaning assigned to it by article 2 of the Banking Act and includes any branch, agency or office in Malta of a bank or credit institution not incorporated in

Malta;

"Board" means the Board of Directors of the Bank established by article 7;

''business of banking'' has the same meaning assigned to it by article 2 of the Banking Act;

''the Community'' means the European Community referred to in article 2 of the European Union Act;

"credit information" means a collection of public and non-public information and other related information, including Central Credit Register data, which when assessed, assembled and evaluated indicates the creditworthiness of a legal or natural person; "credit reference agency" means any undertaking licenced by the Trade Licensing Unit in terms of regulation 47A of the Trading Licences Regulations, the main business of which is to prepare, assemble and evaluate credit information and related credit and risk management services on legal and natural persons for the purpose of issuing credit scores to be furnished to third parties, provided that a credit reference agency is not precluded from carrying out other related tasks; "credit score" means a measure of creditworthiness derived from credit information and which must under pain of nullity include data derived from the Central Credit Register; "competent authority" means any such authority or authorities, as the case may be, nominated to regulate the business of credit institutions, financial institutions or financial services institutions under any law listed in the Schedule; ''directive'' means a directive issued by the Bank under this Act;

"director", in relation to the Bank, includes the Governor and the Deputy Governors;

''European Central Bank'' means the bank established in accordance with Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union;

"European Systemic Risk Board" means the Board established by Article 1 of Regulation (EU) No 1092/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on European Union macro-prudential oversight of the financial system and establishing a European Systemic Risk Board;

"European Union" or "Union" means the European Union referred to in the Treaties; "financial institution" has the same meaning assigned to it by article 2 of the Financial Institutions Act, and includes any branch in Malta of an institution not incorporated in Malta; "Governor" and "Deputy Governors" mean respectively the Governor and the Deputy Governors of the Bank appointed under article 8; "Joint Financial Stability Board" means the Board established by article 17B; "Malta" has the same meaning as is assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution of Malta; "Member State" means a State which is a member of the European Union; "Minister" means the Minister responsible for finance; "participant" in relation to a payment system means a person, including the Bank, who participates in a payment system and may include an indirect participant approved by the Bank if it is warranted on the grounds of systemic risk and on condition that the indirect participant is known to the system;

"payment application" means computer software or equivalent, loaded on a device enabling payment transactions to be initiated and allowing the payer to issue payment orders; "payment card scheme" means a single set of rules, practices, standards and/or implementation guidelines for the execution of card-based payment transactions; "payment service" means any business activity set out in Annex I of the Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No. 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC;

"Payment Services Directive" means Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No. 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/ EC, as may be amended from time to time and includes any implementing measures that have been issued or may be issued thereunder; "payment service provider" has the same meaning assigned to it by article 4 of the Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No. 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC; "payment service user" has the same meaning assigned to it by article 4 of the Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No. 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC;"; "payment system" or "system" means a formal arrangement between three or more participants with common rules and standardised arrangements, for the execution of transfer orders between participants, including a clearing house, or for the settlement of payments relating to securities, which is approved by the Bank, and may include a payment, clearing, settlement, securities clearing, securities settlement, netting and, or, similar system. The Bank may also, on a case-by-case basis, designate as a payment system such a formal arrangement between two participants where the Bank considers that this is warranted on grounds of systemic risk;

"payment transaction" means an act, initiated by the payer or on his behalf or by the payee, of placing, transferring or withdrawing funds, irrespective of any underlying obligations between the payer and the payee; "Statute" means the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank annexed to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; "supervisory authority" means the authority responsible for the supervision and monitoring of credit reference agencies licensed in accordance with the Trading Licences Regulations; "the Treaties" means the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, both signed at Lisbon on 13 December 2008 and as subsequently amended.