Malta’s FIAU Publishes “Intelligence Factsheet” of STRs

The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) of Malta has published its “intelligence factsheet” which provides an overview of “suspicious transaction reports” (STRs) submitted by Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) licensees in 2019.

FIAU reported a total of 1445 STRs from 210 MGA licenced operators during 2019, continuing its 100% rise in suspicious transactions registered by its “CASPAR monitoring system” year-on-year trend.

A breakdown of results saw 32% (457 cases) of the total STRs submitted by three companies and a further 35% (498 cases) registered by another five licenced operators, with 72 organisations submitting the remaining 33% (approximately 486) of the STRs.

FIAU reported 741 STR cases related to online gambling for 2020, under which the enforcement unit continues to broaden its CASPAR system’s monitoring capability.

In its factsheet statement the FIAU detailed: “In most of the cases, the FIAU considers it more appropriate to send a spontaneous intelligence report to foreign FIUs rather than to trigger an investigation in Malta on the basis of STRs received from the remote gaming entities.

“Although the FIAU does not open its own in-depth analysis in these cases, the majority result in further dissemination to its foreign counterparts. As a result, information received through these submissions accounted for 35 percent of the total spontaneous intelligence reports shared with foreign FIUs in 2019.”