Jump In Suspicious Reporting In Malta Following FATF Greylisting

The number of suspicious reports and intelligence reports at Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) shot up in 2021.

In 2021, 7,218 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) were filed to the FIAU, an increase of more than 2,000 when compared with 2020.

The unit also shared 8,443 intelligence reports with both national and international competent authorities, an 86 percent increase from the previous year.

There was an increase in enforcement action in line with the FIAU’s efforts to be more effective in ensuring compliance by subject persons.

This resulted in 139 fines issued for a total of €11,805,169 to various persons and companies for a broad spectrum of infringements and breaches.

This increase in activity and focus by the FIAU will have been affected by the country's greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in June 2021, and no doubt contributed to its removal from the list last Friday (June 17), just 12 months later.

“The second half of the year saw extensive work being carried out to implement the action plan and to achieve a higher level of effectiveness in the areas indicated, as expected by the FATF,” acknowledged Kenneth Farrugia, the FIAU’s director.

Earlier this year, Farrugia said during a conference that the greylisting had been highly useful for having an open and transparent conversation with correspondent banks, including getting rid of perceptions and providing a clear view of the reality of the jurisdiction.

After the greylisting, the FIAU put in extensive work to implement the action plan set out by FATF.

“Despite the FATF outcome, 2021 was nevertheless considered a successful year, with a number of significant achievements and improvements having taken place to further improve Malta’s AML/CFT framework,” the FIAU said.

Beyond the increase in reports, improvements to the FIAU’s technological tools were also made.

These included ongoing updates and further development to the FIAU’s IT operating systems for submission of suspicious reports and for risk assessments.

Meanwhile, there was an increase in training and the number of staff to help the FIAU deal with its workload, of which the current headcount is 115.