The Malta Financial Services Authority has published its Supervisory Priorities for 2026, setting out seven supervisory pillars and signalling a particularly strong focus on financial crime compliance, consumer protection and cross-border supervision. The framework continues to cover resilience of supervised entities, sustainable finance, digital finance, governance risk and compliance, financial crime compliance, consumer protection and education, and cross-border supervision. Financial crime compliance is positioned as a central priority, with supervisory work aligned to the new European Union anti-money laundering legislative package and supported by stronger cooperation with national and EU bodies. Reviews will deepen across all sectors, including financial institutions and crypto-asset service providers, covering money laundering reporting officer effectiveness, governance arrangements, risk assessments, customer screening, and transaction monitoring systems. On consumer protection, the 2026 programme includes value-for-money assessments, disclosure transparency, fair treatment of vulnerable consumers, and improved quality and clarity of credit and insurance information, alongside oversight of the implementation of Malta’s pension auto-enrolment framework and an expansion of national financial education initiatives. Digital finance priorities include supervising the transition of virtual asset service providers to crypto-asset service providers under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, monitoring readiness for the third Payment Services Directive, and assessing ICT and cyber-resilience frameworks in line with the Digital Operational Resilience Act. The MFSA also sets out a proportionate approach to monitoring artificial intelligence adoption, focusing on governance, internal controls and potential consumer impacts, and encourages supervised entities to review the 2026 priorities at board level and assess preparedness.

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