The outcome of Moneyval's evaluation of Malta is expected to be known in the first half of 2021, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna believes.

On 5 October, Malta submitted its final progress report to Moneyval experts, in a bid to avoid being placed on a grey-list.

In September 2019, Moneyval, the European branch of the Financial Action Task Force, or FATF, ruled that Malta remains highly exposed to illicit finance but lacks the resources and infrastructure required to prosecute and seize assets from money launderers and the criminals they serve. Malta had until this month to implement Moneyval's 58 recommendations for bolstering its campaign against financial crime to avoid inclusion on the group's "grey list" of high-risk jurisdictions. Being placed on the grey list would be a death knell for Malta's financial services industry especially.

When ask by this newsroom, Minister Scicluna said that the report was sent on 5 October. "We now wait for them to make their evaluations."

Scicluna said that this report was to Moneyval, but there will also be another report regarding effectiveness with the FATF. "They will receive a template from the FATF to compile the second report with them. One expects them by the first half of next year," Scicluna said.