The Malta Independent 19 February 2025, Wednesday
View E-Paper

Confirmed: Malta passes Moneyval test with no ‘non-compliant’ ratings

Thursday, 27 May 2021, 10:23 Last update: about 5 years ago

The Council of Europe has confirmed that Malta has passed the Moneyval assessment, with the country no longer having any “non-compliant” or “partially compliant” ratings.

In a statement, the Council of Europe said that Malta has succeeded in meeting the “general expectation for countries to have addressed most if not all of the technical compliance deficiencies after the adoption of the mutual evaluation report, within two years.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The statement reads that “Malta has achieved full compliance with twelve of the 40 FATF Recommendations constituting the international AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism) standard.”

Minor deficiencies remain in the implementation of another 28 recommendations, where Malta was found to be “largely compliant”.

Malta no longer has “non-compliant” or “partially compliant” ratings, the Council of Europe said.

Malta was required to report to Moneyval after an assessment in 2019 found a number of shortcomings and deficiencies in technical compliance with respect to anti-money laundering measures, transparency of legal entities, supervision, and international cooperation.

“The positive steps by the authorities have prompted MONEYVAL to assign Malta higher international compliance ratings in the abovementioned areas; they have been re-rated from “partially compliant” to “largely compliant” and “compliant” for 9 FATF Recommendations”, the Council of Europe said.

As per the Moneyval procedures, the follow-up report studies the legislative, regulatory and institutional reforms, and does not assess the degree to which the implemented reforms have been effectively implemented.

The follow-up report also covered implementation of new international requirements for virtual assets, which cover among others the most prominent virtual currencies and the providers of these assets.

Malta was among the first Moneyval countries to implement the regulatory and institutional framework and conduct assessment of ML/TF (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) risks in this area.

Malta’s rating on the implementation of this recommendation has been upgraded from “partially compliant” to “largely compliant”.

The Moneyval committee decided that Malta will remain in enhanced follow-up and will report back to them on further progress to strengthen its implementation of AML/CFT measures in two years.

PN statement: Result is also thanks to the insistence of the Opposition

In a statement, the PN said that it welcomed the news that Malta had passed Moneyval’s evaluation, saying that it represents a big sigh of relief for Maltese business owners and workers – particularly those who work in the financial services sector – an industry which they said was under threat because of how the government had in the last seven years ignored the country’s structures and let financial crime reign supreme.

The party noted that the result – while meaning that improvements have been done – is also thanks to the insistence of the Opposition and civil society in this regard.

 

They said that it is important that there has to be the political will to allow the institutions to work so that justice in the country can be done.

 

  • don't miss