The government in Malta has revealed that the Financial Action Task Force will visit the country on Friday, as it seeks guidance on whether it has completed its action plan on securing AML guidelines.
Maltese governance will be optimistic that the steps and action plan they have taken will be sufficient in removing them from the FATF grey list, as it seeks to overhaul and evolve its approach to AML.
It’s an action-plan that was deemed essential by the FATF, a unit of the G7, which last summer placed Malta on its ‘grey-list’ of untrustworthy financial jurisdictions.
It came after a FATF evaluation of Malta’s financial compliance frameworks issued warnings over Malta’s managing and oversight of corporate tax evasion, terrorist financing and the monitoring of cross border cash payments.
Nonetheless, addressing its February Plenary it hinted that a positive outcome loomed for Malta, with it stating that had upon initial assessment completed the steps.
Speaking on an SBC Webinar last year, Yanica Sant of the General Counsel, Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), emphasised the widespread impacts of the greylisting, as she stated it’s been ‘very extraneous to the gaming industry’.
She added: “What that means is that the manner in which the gaming industry is regulated and the law and the compliance is not being questioned, and is not being placed under any scrutiny.
“However there are direct effects and we expected there to be repercussions to businesses like the gaming industry, and it is not unexpected. We understand the inconvenience and the worry that comes with such a direct effect, and that is why every institution in Malta – and we are one of them – have a plan that is being set in motion in order to get out of this greylist.”
