4th May 2021

The overhaul of the FIAU’s AML/CFT Supervisory Strategy has led to a significant increase in the FIAU’s supervisory coverage, and has also resulted in more meaningful enforcement action, including heftier pecuniary sanctions and the imposition of numerous remediation directives. These initiatives, coupled with more regular and qualitative guidance, as well as increased investment by subject persons in AML/CFT resources, have notably improved the level of compliance with AML/CFT obligations in Malta.

The Enforcement Section of the FIAU has analysed the enforcement actions undertaken in 2019 and 2020 and is publishing the conclusions through this Enforcement Factsheet, to provide more insights on compliance trends.

This Enforcement Factsheet, and the recently issued paper titled ‘The Business Risk Assessment’ provides subject persons with insights into the most common observations emanating from AML/CFT supervisory initiatives. These documents are a useful tool for subject persons to further align their internal AML/CFT controls with the prevailing legal obligations and with the FIAU’s expectations. This further ensures that such controls are sufficiently robust to protect their services, and ultimately, the Maltese economy, from being abused by criminals for ML/FT purposes.