The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has not seen a "dramatic exodus" of companies since Malta was put on the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), according to its chair John Mamo.

During questioning by parliament's appointments committee, ahead of his approval as chair for another year, Mamo said that the number of companies set up in Malta has also remained unchanged.

"We haven’t seen a dramatic exodus of companies but we have also not seen many people set up here, although this was a rather strange year with COVID. 

"Everyone must do their part but at the end of the day it is the entities directly involved that need to act and I think we are doing our utmost to get off the list," Mamo said.

Mamo was first appointed chair of Malta's financial regulator in 2017, following the resignation of Joe Bannister.

'Media exaggerate things'

He went on to accuse the media of tending to "exaggerate things" and said that not all that is "in newspapers and on social media should be taken as fact".

"Important companies like banks, insurance companies, have not left. I’m not saying they don’t have inconveniences since there is much more due diligence now, which is why we want to get off the grey list soon," the chair said.

Asked when he believed Malta could get off the grey list, Mamo said he was not in a position to say. Instead, he said the MFSA was working closely with other entities as well as the Finance Ministry in order to get off the list as soon as possible. 

The committee agreed to recommend Mamo's reappointment following a vote where four members voted in favour while three members voted against. 

The three votes against came from the Opposition MPs, who said they had already stated they wanted the chair's term to be longer than a year and therefore, since issue had not been addressed, they had no option but to vote against him being reappointed.