REELING FROM REPUTATION DAMAGE, MALTA SEEKS TO RESTORE CREDIBILITY THROUGH A LARGE REGULATORY FINE

After the reputational damage Malta recently suffered, due to the Pilatus Bank failure and the exposure of its dodgy Citizenship by Investment program, the country's regulators have attempted to restore the trust of the European Union. Malta's Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) has reportedly imposed a €3.5m fine upon Bulgarian-owned Satabank, another suspicious financial institution closed by the authorities, leaving depositors with losses. Much more needs to be done to clean up Malta's official corruption and money laundering problems.

Whether the FIAU ever is able to recover the fine we cannot say, but it will take much more than a large fine to convince the European Union that Malta's government and regulatory agencies are free from corruption, and can be trusted to keep money launderers, international sanctions evaders, and terrorist financiers out of the EU.