Malta passes the first hurdle in FATF grey list exit
Independent regulatory body has commented that island has taken ‘significant steps’ in bolstering AML/CFT regulations
In its latest update, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) found that Malta had “substantially completed” its action plan to tackle money laundering and terrorist funding.
The next stage of the process will see the FATF visit in the first half of 2022 to verify whether or not the action plan has been implemented and to determine if there is the political will to improve the island’s anti-money laundering (AML) framework.
This visit will increase the prospect that the organisation could remove Malta from the grey list, with the FATF’s next plenary session taking place in Berlin between the 12 and 17 June.
Malta was greylisted in June 2021 alongside Romania and, at the time, they were the first European countries to be added to the list.
When Malta was added to the grey list, Prime Minister Robert Abela described the decision as “unfair” and “unjust” and that the country would work closely with the FATF and its action plan.
Finance Minister Clyde Caruna seems convinced that the action plan is on track: “We will continue to do our utmost and will greet FATF assessors in the best way possible.”
In the statement, published following February’s plenary meeting of the FATF, it said that Malta had made the following key reforms.
The FATF stated that Malta was continuing “to demonstrate that beneficial ownership information is accurate and that, where appropriate, effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions, commensurate with the ML/TF risks, are applied to legal persons if information provided is found to be inaccurate; and ensuring that effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions are applied to gatekeepers when they do not comply with their obligations to obtain accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information”,
Secondly, it stated: “Enhancing the use of the FIU’s financial intelligence to support authorities pursuing criminal tax and related money laundering cases, including by clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the Commissioner for Revenue and the FIU.”
Finally, on the subject of Malta’s application to be removed from the grey list, FATF said: “Increase focus of the FIU’s analysis on these types of offences, to produce intelligence that helps Maltese law enforcement detect and investigate cases in line with Malta’s identified ML risks related to tax evasion. The FATF will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and conduct an on-site visit at the earliest possible date.”
EGR looked into how Malta could bounce back from being greylisted by the FATF when it was initially placed on the list. By being complicit with FATF, Malta will aim to regain any ground that it lost during the time it has been greylisted.