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Business Registry and FIAU Join Hands to Get Malta Off FATF Grey List

  • Richard Marley
  • August 24, 2021
  • 2 minutes read
  • 53
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The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) and Malta Business Registry (MBR) have signed an MoU to get Malta off the FATF’s grey list.

The FIAU and Malta Business Registry have signed an agreement to collaborate on investigations and share information about the beneficial owners of financial institutions in a bid to get Malta of the FATF’s grey list. One of the main reasons behind Malta’s placement on the list earlier this year was shortcomings in acting on this type of UBO information. 

Both, FIAU and MBR said that the organizations have taken a lot of initiatives to strengthen the collaboration. Furthermore, the most recent effort is signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two authorities.

The agreement focuses on how the two authorities can cooperate and collaborate when carrying out supervision, particularly the determination, identification and verification of beneficial owners of corporate entities. The joint statement says,

“These are key obligations to ensure that competent authorities can effectively prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute financial crime.” 

Both authorities added that this is particularly important when it comes to financial crimes like money laundering and terror financing that are often committed through commercial partnerships. This agreement will also assist “subject persons” and professional service providers in corroborating the information acquired during the customer due diligence process. 

“The two authorities see increased cooperation and collaboration in this area as key to address the concerns expressed by the Financial Action Task Force in greylisting Malta,” they said. 

The Chief Executive and registrar of MBR, Joseph Farrugia and Director of the FIAU, Kenneth Farrugia signed the agreement. 

Suggested Read: FATF Votes to Greylist Malta