Malta Takes A Proactive Stance On Europe's AML Reforms

Elena Tabone, Deputy Director at Malta's Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), has set out how the country is preparing for a wave of upcoming EU anti-money laundering reforms, in a wide-ranging interview with Compliance Week.

With the European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) due to be fully operational by 2028, new EU regulations coming into force in summer 2027, and a MONEYVAL evaluation on the horizon, Tabone said the FIAU's current focus is contributing data and analysis to the 2027 national risk assessment, led by the Malta National Coordinating Committee. 

Tabone described the FIAU's approach to supervision as collaborative rather than purely punitive, telling Compliance Week the unit wants to "understand vulnerabilities and help the whole sector become more effective" against financial crime. She pointed to close cooperation with the Malta Business Registry (MBR) to keep beneficial ownership data accurate and current, and said forthcoming changes to bank account register obligations should significantly improve cross-border verification.

On emerging risks, Tabone flagged artificial intelligence as a double-edged issue: firms are increasingly asking how AI can strengthen transaction monitoring and data analytics, even as AI-enabled fraud, including deepfakes, poses a growing threat that the FIAU must also use AI to counter. She also identified virtual IBANs, crypto-asset service providers and tokenisation as areas requiring close ongoing attention, alongside preparations for AMLA's direct supervision of 40 high-risk institutions across the EU.

Malta's experience supervising non-financial sectors for AML purposes since 2011 leaves it well placed for AMLA's staggered rollout to those sectors, Tabone said, though compliance teams will still need to revise policies to reflect new requirements around remote onboarding and customer due diligence.

Read the full interview here.