Malta Financial Services Authority

Category: Malta Financial Services Authority

May 4, 2023

Interesting: Disgraced Former MFSA CEO Still Fit For Public Service Jobs!

Malta is different. There, it's really the good networks and friends that count first and foremost. Sincerity or reputation is less important. After a devastating internal investigation, Joseph Cuschieri was forced to resign as CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) in 2020. Cuschieri used to be a good friend of the arrested Maltese entrepreneur Yorgen Fenech. However, he has been given a new government appointment, the Maltese online media The Shift reports.

April 16, 2023

New Book Reveals How Maltese Law Enforcement Obstructed Efficient Prosecution Of Pilatus Bank!

A book released in Malta by NGO Repubblika concludes that police officers investigating suspected money laundering at MFSA’s licensed Pilatus Bank were searching for justifications for the decision not to prosecute top bank officials. The author Robert Aquilina exposed how police officers discussed how to justify the decision by Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg not to prosecute Pilatus Bank's former top executives, Antoniella Gauci and Mehmet Tasli.

April 5, 2023

MFSA Appoints FIAU Director Kenneth Farrugia As New CEO

The scandal-ridden Maltese regulators are apparently trying to settle the filling of the top posts among themselves. The last attempt to steer the MFSA into..

March 31, 2023

Disgraced Former CEO Joseph Cuschieri Breached MFSA Guidelines And ECB Code Of Conduct.

Unsurprisingly, the former CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), Joseph Cuschieri, violated the regulators' ethics. An internal ethics probe into the regulator's former CEO has determined that he infringed the MFSA's and the European Central Bank's guidelines by going on a 2020 trip to Las Vegas with businessman Yorgen Fenech, who footed the bills for their flights and accommodation.

March 30, 2023

Maltese Networks! MFSA Report Clears General Counsel Edwina Licari!

In October 2020, the Malta Financial Services Authority’s (MFSA) Board of Governors commissioned a review to carry out necessary verifications about a possible breach of ethics by former CEO Joseph Cuschieri and General Counsel Edwina Licari. The report, issued in Nov 2022, concludes that Licari need not face such charges. However, the report also implies problematic conduct during her time as MGA executive and sheds light on the Maltese way of doing supervision.

March 10, 2023

Strange: Maltese Financial Chief Supervisor Accused Of Pushing Licensee To Sell Business To Competitor!

LifeStar Insurance, a licensed Maltese insurance firm, has filed court proceedings against its regulator and one of its top officials. The owner of major insurance company LifeStar, formerly Global Capital, has taken the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) to court, claiming “arbitrary and capricious treatment,” and accused a top MFSA official of pressuring him to sell his company to a competitor. Even under Maltese measures, this is a strange case!

Malta Financial Services Authority

January 23, 2023

MFSA Officials Accused Of Giving False Court Testimony

There is no end to how low the Malta MFSA can go. Shocking court testimony by an MFSA official claimed that two former officials hid documents from the magisterial inquiry into the operations of Pilatus Bank. According to Anthony Sacco, these documents were hidden in a safe on the Authority’s premises that were only accessible by two MFSA officials. However, new information shows that these officials had already left the MFSA and, as such, could not have had anything to do with concealing the documents from the inquiring magistrate.

January 10, 2023

The Intransparent Maltese Regulator

The Maltese mess around its regulators continues. Most recently, the MFSA was again in the spotlight of scandals. The resignation of short-lived Irish CEO Joseph Gavin caused turbulence because he had apparently received a lucrative agreement to carry out an orderly handover. Something that probably shouldn't be remunerated separately one would think. The MFSA and the Maltese Finance Minister Clyde Caruana refuse to publish this €65,000 contract, The Shift reports.

January 2, 2023

Really? Former MFSA Officials Hid Pilatus Bank Documents In Office!

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) just keeps making headlines for the wrong reasons. Shocking court testimony by an MFSA official revealed that two MFSA officials hid documents from the magisterial inquiry into the operations of Pilatus Bank in a safe on the Authority’s premises that was only accessible by two people who are no longer at the Authority. This testimony was revealed on Maltese television by a local NGO President.

Malta Financial Services Authority

January 2, 2023

MFSA: The Maltese Intransparency Problems With Its Regulators Continue!

The regulatory environment in Malta is different. Very different, indeed. The Maltese online platform Shift revealed that Malta Financial Services Authority (MFS) entered into a questionable arrangement to pay its retired former CEO Joseph Gavin some €65,000 for him to “give a handover” to the new acting CEO, a senior MFSA executive. Gavin stepped down last summer after being absent from work for over a month but was still paid €11,000 per month.

October 28, 2022

MFSA Warns Against Crypto Schemes NitroEx, Quickx, and CNexchange!

The Malta Financial Services Authority (“MFSA”) issued a warning against Nitro Software Technologies Ltd d/b/a NitroEx (https://www.nitroex.io). Another warning was issued against the illegal broker Quickx Limited d/b/a Quickx (https://www.quickx.io) and CNexchange (www.cnexchange.io), which promote their services as "world-class crypto platform," “online digital asset trading platform" or "the futuristic payment token." You should stay far away.

Malta Financial Services Authority

October 27, 2022

Malta’s Michael Grech Financial Investment Services Loses Bid Not To Pay For Damages

In March 2022, MFSA’s regulated Michael Grech Financial Investment Services Ltd (www.michaelgrechfinancial.com) was ordered to pay €43,000 in damages to a couple. The investment firm has its offices at Gozo, a small island within the Maltese peninsula. The Maltese Arbiter ordered the company to pay €43,000 in damages to former clients who lost a substantial part of their investments. Michael Grech is the company’s main shareholder and director.