The financial services regulator is planning to move to new premises in three years’ time, spending millions of euros in leases.

At the same time, the Malta Financial Services Authority has just awarded a contract worth more than €250,000 to refurbish the reception area of its premises in Mrieħel, which it is expected to vacate after its relocation in 2021.

Asked for the reason behind this upgrade once the regulator would be moving out, a spokesman replied tersely that “this refurbishment is needed in order to better serve the authority’s needs”.

Senior MFSA officials have internally expressed disagreement with the decision to refurbish the reception area, dubbing it “a complete waste of public funds”. According to sources, the new plans are being made at the behest of the MFSA’s new CEO, Joseph Cuschieri, who previously headed the Malta Gaming Authority.

“It seems that, since a few months ago, MFSA spending has gone into overdrive, including a very uncharacteristic long-term plan to lease a new head office, the hiring of staff who used to work closely with Mr Cuschieri at the Malta Gaming Authority, expensive travel and refurbishments,” the sources said.

The MFSA has been operating from its present offices in Mrieħel since its inception. A call for expressions of interest was issued following Mr Cuschieri’s appointment to relocate all operations to a new building in three years’ time.

The regulator says the current building lacks basic facilities and is inadequate in terms of size, quality, requirements and layout. “The existing premises are limiting our growth in headcount, which is estimated to reach 480 by the end of 2021”, a spokesman said.

The call made by the MFSA for new premises specifies it is seeking 7,000 square metres of space “in a central area in Malta” and “in close proximity to an arterial road”. The new premises also need to have reserved parking space able to take 300 cars.

Even projects still under construction will be considered, provided the target completion date is 2021.

By closing date last October, seven offers were submitted ranging from leases costing under €2 million to €9 million a year, the sources said. It is not known whether all offers met the set criteria.

Meanwhile, iProject Ltd, owned by an auditor who practises on her own, was awarded the tender to refurbish the reception area for €253,000.

Under Mr Cuschieri’s headship, the MGA had moved its head office to Smart City, involving a multimillion euro lease over 15 years.

The MGA had spent €4.3 million to ‘fit out’ the leased offices, including mechanical and electrical engineering works, plastering, partitioning, tiling, fixtures and fittings, furniture and soft furnishing.

Table of offers

*Some items are open to negotiation