MFSA AML/CFT Conference

2026-07-22

On 5 February 2020 the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued a public consultation on the revised money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risk factor Guidelines as part of a broader communication on AML/CFT issues. This update takes into account changes to the EU Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT) legal framework and new ML/TF risks, including those identified by the EBA’s implementation reviews. The consultation, which went on up until 19 May 2020, proposes changes to the risk factor guidelines that will become applicable in 2021 and will significantly strengthen Europe’s AML/CFT defences and foster greater convergence of supervisory practices in areas where supervisory effectiveness has been hampered, so far, by divergent approaches in the implementation of the same European legal requirements. Also, on 5 February 2020, the EBA published its report on Competent Authorities’ approaches to the AML/CFT supervision of banks. The report describes broadly how competent authorities in the 2019 sample reviewed (total of 7) applied the risk-based approach (RBA), which is central and obligatory for the effective implementation of international standards, Directive (EU) 2015/849, FATF Recommendations and the European Supervisory Authorities’ joint AML/CFT guidelines. In these reviews it was noted that these competent authorities faced common challenges when implementing these RBA’s. The aim of this project is to enhance the understanding of practitioners of AML and the CFT, in the implementation of the RBA’s for these areas and tackle these common challenges. This will be done through the following objectives: - To exchange information, best practices and experiences on the implementation of the RBA for AML and CFT, through a 2-day conference attended by 150 persons. - To enhance cooperation amongst representatives from supervisory bodies of 5 different member states on the RBA’s, through their participation in a 2-day conference.

Malta

2025-10-15