MFSA’S ORGANISATIONAL AND SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM APPOINTMENTS
Following the Malta Financial Services Authority’s (‘MFSA’) restructuring process which took place early last year, the MFSA has on the 14th February 2020 published a press release announcing organisational and senior leadership team appointments. This process brought about several commitments to the MFSA to further strengthen its organisational capacity by establishing, new operational and supervisory functions in all aspects of risk management, supervisory ICT and cybersecurity risk, financial crime compliance, data management and business intelligence, FinTech and programme management. In order to focus on delivering and implementing the MFSA’s Vision 2021 and the Strategic Plan published last year, the way forward involved the engagement of new professionals to join the MFSA leadership team.
To this effect, three UK nationals with vast experience in the UK financial services market, (within the Bank of England, Financial Conduct Authority and the private sector) are set to take up a number of senior positions within the MFSA’s supervisory area namely banking supervision, financial crime compliance and conduct supervision.
The MFSA’s Head of Banking Supervision, Head of Financial Crime Compliance and Head of Conduct will be newly taken up by UK nationals David Eacott, Anthony Eddington and Emily Benson respectively.
New Due Diligence Function
A new specialised Due Diligence/Intelligence function is being created to centralise all the Authority’s on-boarding and ongoing due diligence, and probity activities.
Authorisations
The licensing and authorisations process within the MFSA is set for an overhaul with the merging of sectoral authorisations including, amongst others banking and financial institutions, insurance and pensions within the supervisory functions in order to drive more efficiency in the licensing process and manage the licence-holder lifecycle more effectively.
Via this restructuring the MFSA will continue its evolution into a modern and well-resourced regulator prepared to take over the new challenges posed by the financial services sector. This augurs well for Malta as a financial centre in its strive towards achieving operation and reputational excellence.
From this page DFA welcomes these new appointments and wishes the new appointees and those taking on new roles the best of luck on their career move. Our specialised financial services practitioners look forward to continue collaborating with the recomposed MFSA teams.
Should you require further information or assistance in connection with any regulatory matters, please do not hesitate to contact our financial services team at dfcs@dfadvocates.com.