Collaboration on Capacity Building Between Regulators and Universities | Professor Emanuel Said

Received (in revised form) on 25th January 2025 Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy Volume I.

Financial regulation is only as effective as the people and institutions behind it. Rules, frameworks and supervisory mandates depend, ultimately, on a consistent supply of skilled professionals equipped with the knowledge to apply them. It is this foundational relationship – between regulatory capacity and academic expertise – that forms the subject of a new paper by Prof. Emanuel Said, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy at the University of Malta.

Said’s paper explores the symbiotic relationship between universities and financial regulators within the European financial services landscape, using the partnership between the University of Malta and the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) as a central case study. His argument is that such collaboration is not incidental to effective regulation, but integral to it. As financial markets grow more complex – shaped by fintech innovation, crypto assets, AI-driven risks and climate-related financial exposures – regulators face a perpetual demand for updated knowledge, analytical capability and specialist expertise. Universities, Said contends, are uniquely positioned to meet that demand through specialised training, cutting-edge research, policy dialogue, and a steady pipeline of qualified graduates entering the sector.

In the Maltese context, the University of Malta – MFSA partnership has generated demonstrable outcomes: jointly authored research, industry conferences, student internship programmes, and most recently the launch of a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Regulation and Compliance. This is a programme designed to serve both new entrants and experienced professionals across the financial services sector.

Said’s paper makes a broader point of relevance to any jurisdiction seeking to strengthen its regulatory infrastructure: that the quality of a financial system depends not only on the frameworks it adopts, but on the institutional relationships that give those frameworks substance.

This summary is the final part of our weekly series curated by Business News Malta, showcasing articles from the Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy (JFSA) Volume I, published September 2025.