The Malta Financial Services Authority has published its Financial Crime Compliance Strategy 2026, broadening its focus beyond anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing to cover interconnected risks including proliferation financing, sanctions evasion, tax crime and fraud. The framework directs supervisory resources toward higher-risk sectors and activities, assesses whether firms achieve effective compliance outcomes and embeds financial crime considerations throughout authorization, ongoing supervision and enforcement. The strategy rests on six pillars covering risk-based and outcomes-based supervision, lifecycle oversight, streamlined regulation, coordination, collaboration and industry outreach. The authority will use information from its wider supervisory responsibilities, including the Digital Operational Resilience Act and Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation frameworks, to identify weaknesses that may indicate deficiencies in financial crime controls. It will also strengthen information-sharing, issue risk-based and sector-specific guidance, conduct follow-up supervisory reviews and align its approach with the European Union anti-money laundering legislative package and the work of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority.

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