Malta — Country Risk Report

Malta (Europe • Southern Europe). Risk report as of the 19 Jun 2026 FATF plenary.

Moderate country risk, with elevated corruption risk. Malta's country risk score is 3.8/10, placing it in the moderate-risk band. The principal driver is weak corruption. Malta is not currently FATF grey- or black-listed. Malta is not subject to comprehensive country-wide sanctions. Firms should apply additional scrutiny where exposure involves state-linked entities, restricted sectors, sensitive technology, dual-use goods or politically exposed counterparties.

Recommended treatment

Standard due diligence, with enhanced checks for defined risk triggers.

At a glance

  • FATF status: Not currently listed (one indicator only; it does not set the overall country risk rating by itself)
  • Comprehensive country sanctions: none identified. Targeted sanctions exposure: possible, screen applicable persons, entities and sectors
  • Government effectiveness and rule of law: 3.3/10
  • Corruption (CPI 2025): 49/100, rank #60 of 182
  • Enforcement: 52 actions from 1 regulator

Country Risk Score: 3.8/10 (Moderate)

Higher score means higher country risk (global average 4.6). Full information available. Some evidence is older. Enforcement activity and CPI are shown for context but do not change the score.

All three parts of the score are available.

How this score was calculated

  • Financial crime controls: 5.6/10 — 50% of this score
  • Government effectiveness and rule of law: 3.3/10 — 30% of this score
  • International sanctions: 0.0/10 — 20% of this score
  • The FATF assessment is more than five years old.

International sanctions contributes 0.0 because the complete UN, UK, EU and US review found no direct country-level sanctions programme. People or organisations connected to the country may still appear on sanctions lists.

Show the exact calculation

aml 5.6 × 50% + governance 3.3 × 30% + sanctions 0 × 20% = 3.8; final 3.8

Principal risk drivers

  • Government effectiveness and rule of law drive the score; no FATF listing or direct country-level sanctions were identified

Mitigating factors

  • Not currently on the FATF grey or black list.
  • No comprehensive country-wide sanctions programme.
  • Comparatively stronger political stability (2.0/10).
  • Risk is concentrated in specific counterparties, sectors and transactions rather than applying uniformly.

Business impact

  • Customer onboarding (Medium): Additional ownership and control verification may be required.
  • Payments and transactions (Medium): Review transaction purpose, counterparties and geographic routing.
  • Trade and export activity (Medium): Screen goods, end users and potential dual-use exposure.
  • Corporate clients (Medium): Assess state ownership, government links and political exposure.
  • Ongoing monitoring (Medium): Apply alerts for ownership changes, sanctions and geopolitical developments.

Recommended controls

  • Verify ultimate beneficial ownership using more than one reliable source.
  • Identify state ownership, government influence and politically exposed persons.
  • Screen entities, directors and beneficial owners against applicable sanctions lists.
  • Apply enhanced review to technology, defence, telecommunications, financial services and dual-use activity.
  • Document transaction purpose and source of funds where cross-border structures are complex.
  • Escalate unresolved ownership opacity or adverse information to Compliance.

Enhanced due diligence triggers

  • State ownership / control
  • PEP involvement
  • Sensitive / restricted sectors
  • Opaque ownership
  • Adverse media
  • Dual-use goods & technology
  • High-risk intermediary routing

FATF status: Not currently listed

Malta is not on the FATF grey or black list as of the 19 Jun 2026 plenary.

Source details

International sanctions by issuing body

  • UN: No
  • EU: No
  • UK: No
  • US: No

No means the complete UN, UK, EU and US review found no direct country-level programme. People or organisations may still appear on sanctions lists.

Government effectiveness and rule of law (World Bank 2024, percentile)

  • Government Effectiveness: 63/100
  • Regulatory Quality: 63/100
  • Rule of Law: 69/100

Enforcement activity

RegActions tracks 52 enforcement actions from 1 regulator in Malta.

The composite RegActions Country Risk Score does not use enforcement volume.

Regulators and legal framework

FATF network

FATF network via MONEYVAL.

Last mutual evaluation: 2019 · report

National regulators

FIU: Egmont Group member (FIAU)

Framework signals

  • FATF listing: Not currently listed
  • International sanctions: no listed programme identified
  • BO register: Restricted (live since 2018)
  • Corruption (CPI 2025): 49/100, rank #60 of 182
  • Rule of law (WGI): 3.5/10 risk

Sector exposure

  • Banking & payments (Low): No FATF listing, rule-of-law governance within normal range
  • Trade & export controls (Low): No sanctions programme or FATF black-list constraint identified
  • Crypto & virtual assets (Low): No FATF listing, accountability governance within normal range
  • Real estate & luxury assets (Low): Corruption indicators within normal range for high-value assets
  • State-linked & procurement (Low): Political-stability and corruption governance within normal range

Derived from sanctions tier, FATF listing, World Bank WGI governance and CPI; no per-sector dataset is asserted.

Malta: analysis

Malta's profile is driven primarily by corruption (weighted 35%) and rule of law and institutions (weighted 40%). Both domains are the weakest for any EU member state in this batch. Political stability (strong) is the standout strength. Voice and accountability (strong) is moderate. No FATF listing or sanctions currently apply; Malta was previously subject to enhanced FATF scrutiny but is not listed at the time of this assessment. The CPI reading is the lowest in the batch for an EU member. Malta sits in the upper tier of the World Bank governance indicators.

Outlook

Malta has undertaken regulatory reform following a period of significant international scrutiny. Continued progress in anti-corruption enforcement, judicial independence and AML supervisory capacity will be critical to sustaining its current unlisted status and improving its governance profile. Firms should apply enhanced due diligence for Maltese-connected business, particularly where high-risk business lines, gaming, crypto or high-value residency schemes are involved, and monitor MFSA supervisory developments closely.

Key watchpoints

  • Monitor MFSA enforcement activity and supervisory guidance for signs of increased or decreased regulatory stringency.
  • Track anti-corruption and judicial reform progress as indicators of whether governance improvements are being embedded structurally.
  • Apply enhanced due diligence for sectors with elevated inherent risk in Malta, including online gaming, crypto-asset services and citizenship-by-investment related flows.
  • Watch for any future FATF evaluation or Moneyval assessment findings that may alter Malta's international risk categorisation.

Assessment currency

  • FATF status: Not listed (as of 19 Jun 2026)
  • Sanctions exposure: None identified (as of Jul 2026)
  • Governance (WGI): Latest dataset incorporated (as of 2024)
  • Corruption (CPI): 49/100 (as of 2025)
  • RegActions assessment: Reviewed (as of 19 Jun 2026)

Public evidence layer

FATF action: none. No FATF call-for-action or increased-monitoring status was identified at the latest plenary. This does not establish low risk.

Contextual signals (not scored)

  • FATF network membership: FATF regional network: MONEYVAL (present, as of 2026-07)
  • EU non-cooperative tax jurisdictions: Not listed in Annex I (absent, as of 2026-02-17)
  • Egmont Group FIU: FIAU (present, as of 2026-07-17)
  • Beneficial-ownership register: Restricted (live since 2018) (present, as of 2026-07-17)
  • Transparency International CPI: 49/100, rank 60 (present, as of 2025)

Evidence freshness

  • FATF monitored-jurisdiction status: current; data 2026-06-19
  • FATF mutual evaluation and follow-up ratings: current; data 2026-07-31; follow-up 2021-08; base assessment 2019-07
  • World Bank governance indicators: current; data 2024
  • UN, UK, EU and US sanctions regimes: current; data 2026-08-13

Contextual signals are public evidence only and do not change the immutable v2 score.

Download evidence PDF · CSV · JSON

Regional peer scores

FAQ

Is Malta on the FATF grey list?

No. Malta is not on the FATF grey or black list as of the 19 Jun 2026 plenary. FATF listing is one AML indicator; absence from the list does not by itself make Malta low risk. The next FATF plenary review is scheduled for Oct 2026.

Is Malta subject to sanctions?

No country-level programme was identified. In the approved RegActions snapshot, no comprehensive or targeted country-wide sanctions programme was found for Malta, but individual listed persons may still exist, so firms should continue to screen counterparties against the applicable lists.

What is Malta's country risk rating?

RegActions rates Malta at 3.8/10 (Moderate risk), where a higher score means higher country risk. The score combines financial crime controls, government effectiveness and rule of law, and international sanctions. Transparency International's 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index scores Malta 49/100 (rank #60 of 182).

What due diligence applies to Malta?

Standard due diligence, with enhanced checks for defined risk triggers. This is decision-support based on Malta's FATF status, governance and sanctions signals, and is not a substitute for a firm's own risk assessment.

How much enforcement activity is tracked for Malta?

RegActions tracks 52 enforcement actions from 1 regulator in Malta. Enforcement volume measures regulator activity, not country risk, so it is shown as evidence but never fed into the RegActions Country Risk Score.

Source: FATF black & grey lists · World Bank WGI (CC BY 4.0 — World Bank WGI) · TI CPI (CC BY-ND 4.0 — Transparency International, display only)