Malta has just come out from the dark chapter of greylisting. Let us not fool ourselves; the minimum thing we can do is admit that the real work starts now.
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That Malta is a greylisted country is no news. What will make news is a solution that puts Malta back on the right track. But let us add some more context.
In
Daniel Bilocca, compliance and risk director at NOUV, gives an overview of what legislative instruments have strengthened AML compliance in Malta.
2020 shall be remembered by Malta’s AML compliance experts for the numerous key legal amendments that have started turning the method of AML compliance enforcement over its head: the result of the publication of different acts and legal notices.
Malta’s initial step was to bolster its competent authority, the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) to safeguard its transparency. Malta’s very first legislative Act of the year implemented the following measures:
i. The FIAU was granted the right to establish, manage and administer a central bank account registry for Malta which as per Legal Notice 401 of 2020 (the Centralised Bank Account Register Regulations), shall contain ‘data and information on accounts identified by IBAN held by credit and financial institutions and on safe custody services provided by credit instituti