Entities that ignore their anti-money laundering obligations are not welcome, FIAU director Kenneth Farrugia has insisted.
In an overview in the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit’s annual report, Farrugia says the anti-money laundering unit is determined to carry its weight in confronting sophisticated money laundering actors that need to be tackled with coordinated and determined action by local authorities.
The Council of Europe’s Moneyval expert panel in September last year gave Malta a fail grade in its assessment of anti-money laundering laws and their enforcement. The panel gave Malta just over a year to address a wide range of shortcomings it uncovered.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Robert Abela emphasised the need for more financial crime prosecutions, noting how FIAU investigations were often not resulting in charges when they reached the police.
Last year, the FIAU slapped €3.9 million worth of fines on institutions under its supervision, including a record €3 million fine on Satabank, where multiple anti-money laundering breaches were found.
FIAU Deputy director Alfred Zammit, speaking during a press briefing about the FIAU’s work, said the unit would be taking on new responsibilities like the enforcement of a €10,000 limit on cash purchases and a new centralised bank account registry.
The FIAU in 2019 received 2,778 reports about suspicious activity, a 57% increase in the amount received the previous year and a 248% increase over 2017.
Remote gaming institutions topped the list of suspicious activity report filings, followed by banks.
The six core local banks filed 335 suspicious activity reports in 2019, compared to 573 in 2018.
On the other end of the scale, accounting professionals and retirement scheme administrators filed no suspicious activity reports.
Despite property being a favoured vehicle for money-launders, just seven suspicious activity reports were filed by estate agents.
The annual report says that while some sectors are still falling short of the desired quality when it comes to suspicious activity reports, over the years the quality of such reports had improved substantially.
Almost 75% of the subject of suspicious activity reports were non-Maltese nationals or foreign-registered companies.
The FIAU said this continued to confirm the international element that the Maltese financial sector is exposed to.
Its intelligence division processed 3,585 cases in 2019. A third of these cases were initiated before 2019.
In 2019 the FIAU concluded 1,398 cases, which equated to 39% of all the cases handled during the year. A total of 2,187 cases remained ongoing as at the end of the year.
Sixty-one cases were sent to the police for further investigation after the FIAU found a reasonable suspicion of money laundering.
Additionally, 41 spontaneous intelligence reports deemed relevant to the police were also sent.
Malta is facing being grey-listed if it does not step up its efforts against fighting money laundering.