The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) is a financial regulator of

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. The MFSA was founded in 2002 when it assumed the responsibilities of the

Central Bank of Malta The Central Bank of Malta ( mt, Bank Ċentrali ta’ Malta) is the central bank of the Republic of Malta. It was established on 17 April 1968. In May 2004, when Malta joined the European Union, it became an integral part of the European Syste ...

, the

Malta Stock Exchange The Malta Stock Exchange ( mt, Borża ta' Malta), originally known as the Casino della Borsa, is the stock exchange of the island nation of Malta. Since being set up in 1992, the Exchange has been key to the raising of capital for the private sec ...

, and the Malta Financial Services Centre. It regulates

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

ing,

investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is ...

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

financial Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of f ...

pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

companies and securities markets in Malta.

Powers

The MFSA has the powers to regulate, monitor, and supervise the financial sector of Malta, protecting the interests of the consumers and promoting the market transparency and efficiency. It has the powers to review business practices, advise the government on policies, and to investigate potential harmful and unfair practices in the financial industry.

International relations

The MFSA is a member of the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, the European Securities and Markets Authority, the

International Organization of Securities Commissions The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is an association of organizations that regulate the world's securities and futures markets. Members are typically primary securities and/or futures regulators in a national jurisdi ...

, and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors.

Demerger

The MFSA was demerged from the Registry of Companies in 2018 in order to focus on its

regulatory Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. ...

role and duties. The Registry of Companies is now a stand-alone agency and is now known as the Malta Business Registry (MBR).

Notable cases and controversies

In June 2016, the MFSA drew criticism from the MEP

Sven Giegold Sven (in Danish and Norwegian, also Svend and also in Norwegian most commonly Svein) is a Scandinavian first name which is also used in the Low Countries and German-speaking countries. The name itself is Old Norse for "young man" or "young warr ...

for poor regulatory supervision of the Maltese financial institutions. In 2018, Joseph Cuschieri was appointed as CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority. He started his position accompanied by his close friend Edwina Licari, and during their time at the MFSA, they had more than 35 “business trips” together, where €0.5 million from taxpayers’ money were spent. In 2020, Joseph Cuschieri decided to resign from the role due to the revelations of his closeness with Yorgen Fenech, the main suspect behind the assassination of Daphne Caruana. Edwina Licari still works at MFSA as a General Counsel with a high annual salary of €100,000. In March 2018, the MFSA took control of

Pilatus Bank Pilatus was a Maltese bank located in Ta' Xbiex. The bank created in 2013 and closed in 2018. History Pilatus Bank started its operations in January 2014. Its owner was Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, known as Ali Sadr. The bank came into the s ...

, a Maltese bank headed by Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, whose

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdicti ...

scheme of sanctioned Iranian money was exposed by late

Daphne Caruana Galizia Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia (; 26 August 1964 – 16 October 2017) was a Maltese writer, journalist, blogger and anti-corruption activist, who reported on political events in Malta. In particular, she focused on investigative journalism, repor ...

. Later, in June, the MFSA asked the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centra ...

to withdraw Pilatus Bank's licence. In July of the same year, Pilatus Bank's depositors threatened to sue the MFSA for freezing €80 million in funds held by innocent victims. In October, the bank's directors followed with their own lawsuit to the MFSA. In November 2018, the bank's European licence has been withdrawn by the ECB. In October 2018, the MFSA froze the assets of SataBank due to anti-money laundering concerns. The freeze resulted in vocal criticism of the bank's account holders. The bank is co-owned by Christo Georgiev, the owner of LeoPay startup. In August 2019, the Malta Financial Services Authority became embroiled in scandal after paying €150,000 severance to its

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms includ ...

department director, George Spiteri, who later was rehired for a similar position by the Malta Business Registry, which branched out of the MFSA just a few weeks earlier.

References

External links

* {{Official website 2002 establishments in Malta Government agencies established in 2002 Financial regulatory authorities of Malta