MONEYVAL notes significant improvement in Malta's AML controls

MONEYVAL conducted an assessment of the jurisdiction in July 2019, which identified several compliance deficiencies regarding application of some of the preventative measures, transparency of legal entities, supervision and international cooperation. Now, in a follow-up mutual evaluation report conducted by the MONEYVAL secretariat and MONEYVAL members Italy and Jersey, the jurisdiction's AML regime has been re-assessed as having met the majority of MONEYVAL's requirements.

It was judged to have improved from 'partially compliant' to either 'largely compliant' or ‘fully compliant’ on nine Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations. Malta is now fully compliant on 12 of the 40 FATF recommendations and largely compliant on the other 28. It no longer has any non-compliant or partially compliant ratings.

Notably, the follow-up report assessed Malta's implementation of the June 2019 FATF recommendations for virtual assets and their providers. It was among the first MONEYVAL countries to implement the international standard framework in this area, achieving a rating of 'largely compliant.'

Malta has met 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', commented MONEYVAL, noting that only 'minor shortcomings' remain to be addressed.

The jurisdiction will remain in the enhanced follow-up process and report back to MONEYVAL on its continued progress in two years, during which time it will aim to further strengthen its implementation of its AML regime.

Sources

• MONEYVAL
• MONEYVAL (full report, PDF)
• STEP International News 24 June 2019: FATF 'will not allow cryptocurrency to replace secret numbered accounts'