Malta Financial Services Authority convenes internal audit conference focused on supervisory reliance and stronger assurance

The Malta Financial Services Authority, in collaboration with the IIA Malta Chapter, hosted the MFSA Internal Audit Conference “From Oversight to Insight: Internal Audit in Financial Services”, bringing together regulators, boards, executives, auditors and academics to discuss how internal audit is evolving in a more complex regulatory and supervisory environment. Speakers highlighted supervisors’ growing reliance on strong internal audit functions and the role of independent assurance in supporting market confidence. Contributions included a keynote from Sandro Boeri of the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing on moving beyond compliance-driven models to engage more directly with strategy, culture and emerging risks, and a supervisory perspective from Banafsheh Geretzki, Director Internal Audit of the European Central Bank, on expectations for high-quality assurance and reliance on internal audit. Sessions and panels covered internal audit’s role across banking, insurance, pensions, investment services, capital markets and fintech, alongside themes such as European regulatory trends, the impact of artificial intelligence on audit methodologies, and expectations around talent, independence and culture.