Published (in revised form) on 11th October 2024 for the Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy Volume I. Supervisory independence - the ability of financial regulators to make decisions free from political interference, industry pressure, and conflicts of interest - is widely recognised as a cornerstone of effective financial oversight. Yet ensuring it in practice has proven more complex than simply legislating for it. Following the 2019 review of the European Supervisory

Published in Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy Volume I, September 2025. Equity markets have weathered no shortage of turbulence in recent years, yet the volatility seen at the surface is too often mistaken for instability at the foundations. In his contribution to Volume I of the Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy (JFSA), Richard Metcalfe, Head of Regulatory Affairs at the World Federation of Exchanges, makes the case that capital markets deserve more credit tha

Written by Matthew Scicluna, Head of Financial Crime Compliance Malta’s financial services sector, characterised by both its strong domestic foundation and international reach, has undergone significant transformation in recent years. This evolution has been driven by changing regulatory frameworks at both local and global levels, geopolitical developments, and the emergence of new and increasingly sophisticated criminal typologies. A particularly concerning development has b

Published (in revised form) on 3rd April 2025 in Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy Volume I. For decades, Europe has grappled with a persistent structural challenge: its capital markets have consistently underperformed relative to their potential. Joe Heavey, now Team Lead for International and Institutional Affairs at the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) - who held the role of Senior Officer at the time of writing - traces the long arc of EU capital ma

Received (in revised form) on 11th October 2024 for the Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy Volume I. Professor Pierre-Henri Conac’s article, The Capital Markets Union: What Will It Take To Be A Success, published in Volume I of the Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy, offers a timely and measured assessment of the European Union’s decade-long effort to build a genuine Capital Markets Union (CMU). Launched in 2014, the CMU aimed to deepen cross-border capital market

Published (in revised form) on 13th October 2024 in Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy Volume I. Artificial Intelligence is set to fundamentally reshape how financial markets are regulated and overseen, and supervisory authorities cannot afford to be passive bystanders. That is the central argument of an article by Nicolas Vasse (now Executive Director at AMLA), Richard Gigax (Regulatory Compliance Consultant), Thanh Tran Tien (Product Manager at Banque de France), and

By Elena Tabone Head Enforcement at the Malta FIAU (Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit) The publication of a new Settlement Policy and Enforcement Guide, as well as the publication of the governing principles for the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit’s (FIAU’s) Compliance Monitoring Committee (CMC), provide unprecedented transparency and clarity regarding the approach to the monitoring and enforcement of AML/CFT measures in Malta. These initiatives are part of broader ef

Published (in revised form) on 29th January 2025 in Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy Volume I. When Malta created a framework for Virtual Financial Assets in 2018, it set a precedent for how regulators can engage with technological disruption ahead of the curve. A new analysis by Professor Filippo Annunziata, published in Volume I of the Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy, examines a parallel challenge now confronting Maltese-listed issuers, investment firms and

Published (in revised form) on 5th February 2025 in Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy Volume I. Asset tokenisation - the process of representing real-world assets on a blockchain - is quietly reshaping how financial markets think about ownership, liquidity, and settlement. But as the technology matures, the regulatory frameworks governing it are struggling to keep pace. Drawing on their direct experience supervising digital asset entities within Bermuda's Financial Aut

As the European financial landscape undergoes an era of profound digital and structural transformation, the mandate of national competent authorities continues to evolve. We are no longer just the custodians of the Single Rulebook; we are the architects of its effective, consistent, and forward-looking implementation. For the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), our 2026 Supervisory Priorities set out a clear and purposeful roadmap to ensure that Malta remains a resilie

By Elena Tabone, Head – Enforcement of Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit Remediation is a powerful tool for achieving compliance, but its effectiveness relies on both thorough supervision and equally rigorous enforcement capacity. With this in mind, between 2018 and 2020, Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) embarked on a program of transformation to overhaul its supervisory and enforcement measures with the aim of strengthening its functions and po

The global video game industry is larger than the film and music industries combined and "dwarfs iGaming internationally" in terms of annual global revenue, according to Ivan Filletti, CEO of the GamingMalta Foundation, who sat down with Malta Independent on Sunday. Filletti is in charge of spearheading Malta's ambitious drive to become a world leader in interactive entertainment. Between 25 and 30 video game studios from countries including Israel, the UK, France, German

By George Vella, Chairman of FinanceMalta This year the FinanceMalta Annual Conference had more delegates and sponsors than ever before and the buzz in the room was palpable. There are many reasons to be optimistic about the future for financial services in Malta. Speakers and delegates at the event pointed to the strong economic fundamentals, presence of a talented and dedicated workforce, and the continued commitment to encouraging and actively supporting innovation as ce

By Fiorentina D'Amore, CEO Malta – Senior Director of Business Operations Europe, Blockchain.com PREAMBLE The industry’s argument against centralizing the supervision of Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) — "significant" and “non-significant ones” — to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and away from National Competent Authorities (NCAs) is rooted in concerns over stifling innovation, adding bureaucracy, and sacrificing local expertise and rapport. Cent

The Malta Financial Services Authority's international conference on November 18, 2025—taking place ahead of the IOSCO Growth & Emerging Markets (GEM) and European Regional Committee meetings (November 19-21)—signals a pivotal moment in global financial services evolution. By convening regulators, policymakers, and market leaders to discuss the dynamics shaping finance's future, Malta is asserting its role as more than a participant—it's positioning itself as a jurisdiction a

Written by Jesmond Gatt, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Malta Financial Services Authority Across the globe the financial services sector sits at the heart of a fundamental transformation that will have far reaching impacts for governments, business and society alike. From the heart of the Mediterranean to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, rapid technological advancement and digital innovation are opening up a host of new possibilities for industry, and many advance

When Minister for the Economy Silvio Schembri announced last week that US immersive technology studio Wevr would establish its European base in Malta, the news represented more than just another company choosing our shores. It marked the latest validation of a strategy years in the making - one that has quietly positioned Malta as a Mediterranean hub for gaming, esports, and immersive technology. The announcement came during Malta's 5th Startup Festival Week, which attracted

The Malta Financial Services Authority (“MFSA”) has recently issued a “Dear CEO” letter to all financial institutions (“FIs”) licensed and supervised in Malta, focusing on the criticality of robust business resilience frameworks. The “Dear CEO” letter was published following a ‘Thematic Exercise on Business Resilience’ initiated by the FinTech Supervision Function within the MFSA, in which FIs were requested to complete a questionnaire structured into three categories, namely

As of 17 January 2025, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is now in full effect across the European Union. But make no...

On 26 September 2025, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) published a Dear CEO Letter with its supervisory observations on...