As part of a continuous effort to strengthen supervision and compliance in the fight against financial crime, the MFSA has established a strengthened Financial Crime team. To this effect, the MFSA’s current resources have been augmented by a team of experts provided by the US-based consultancy firm FTI Consulting.
Under the leadership of Federica Taccogna, the team has been entirely integrated within the MFSA’s structures and act as a temporary, but critical transition device providing not only immediate resource and expertise augmentation but also on-the-job coaching and hiring support. This will help create a stronger permanent Financial Crime setup at the MFSA.
This initiative is part of the MFSA’s continued effort to evolve and enhance its approach to combating money laundering and terrorist financing in conjunction with the FIAU.
Joseph Cuschieri, MFSA Chief Executive Officer, noted that “this project is a perfect fit with our AML/CFT strategy published earlier this year. This partnership with FTI Consulting will undoubtedly strengthen our AML/CFT supervisory capabilities and help the MFSA raise its standards of compliance.
Working closely with the FIAU, we will have the capacity to increase the number of inspections and examinations of licence holders. FTI’s strong financial crime expertise, analytic and forensic capabilities will enable us to achieve an unprecedented depth of scrutiny. This, will allow us to take the industry to the next level of compliance and sophistication in the fight against financial crime”.
Paul Ficca, Forensic & Litigation Consulting Segment Leader, at FTI Consulting, United States said that “we are delighted with this partnership and FTI supports Malta’s effort to strengthen its approach to reducing money-laundering and combating terrorist financing (AML-CFT). We are pleased to join in Malta’s efforts to be a leader in its fight against financial crime”.
Federica Taccogna, who is leading this new team, stated: “I am excited to continue to assist the MFSA in its journey to deliver the AML/CFT strategy published earlier this year. I believe that the entire sector will benefit from our joint work. Scrutiny may be greater, but so will guidance to the industry. Individuals with whom I work every day at the MFSA are incredibly passionate and determined to do the right thing and drive the industry and the jurisdiction to the next level. Being part of this endeavor is a challenge and an honour”.
