Malta’s financial regulator aims to become financially independent from the government by 2024, a new plan released by the MFSA on Friday says.
Last year, the MFSA had to resort to additional government funding after making a €7.9 million loss.
MFSA CEO Joseph Cuschieri said in a statement that the strategic plan is focused on strengthening the MFSA and preparing it for the next generation of financial services.
A five-year business plan includes the introduction of new ancillary fees to cover services currently provided free of charge, as well as a revision in authorisation and supervisory fees so that the new revenue model reflects the real cost of supervision based on the risk profile/assessment of each sector supervised by the MFSA.
A new financial stability function will be set up within the MFSA, coupled with investment in business intelligence, knowledge management, cybersecurity and new analytical tools.
The MFSA will be investing €12 million in technology development over the next three years.
Financial crime
The plan seeks to strengthen the governance, culture and conduct within the financial services market and beef up the fight against financial crime.
A dedicated financial crime compliance team has been set up within the MFSA to help crackdown on such crimes.
“Thematic reviews are planned to better understand sector-specific money laundering, bribery and corruption risks, determine how firms are managing and addressing such risks and provide guidance on good practice measures which should be implemented by regulated firms”, the plan says.
The MFSA will actively monitor and manage business-related risks pertaining to licensed virtual assets and cryptocurrency businesses.
Times of Malta has reported how Malta’s anti-money laundering regime has failed an as yet unpublished review by international experts Moneyval.
Country-specific recommendations published by the European Commission this summer flagged how governance shortcomings, particularly in the fight against corruption, may adversely affect the business environment and weight negatively on investment.
“In particular, there is a risk of conflict of interest at various levels of government”, the Commission said.
Cuschieri retains government roles
Mr Cuschieri was handpicked by the Prime Minister’s office for the role of MFSA CEO last year.
He had retained his role as deputy chairman of Project Malta, an entity falling under Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi’s control.
Mr Cuschieri has also remained on the board of the state-owned Safe City Malta, a company that has in the past explored introducing facial recognition technology in conjunction with Huawei.