The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) imposed a total of €1,340,242 million in administrative penalties and issued 71 enforcement measures in 2025, as the number of suspicious transaction reports received by the authority increased by 13% over the previous year.
The figures emerge from the FIAU’s 2025 annual report published Tuesday, which highlighted the authority’s supervisory, enforcement and intelligence work in Malta’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
The FIAU said it received 10,712 suspicious transaction reports during the year, up from 9,430 in 2024, while carrying out 150 supervisory interventions across financial and non-financial sectors.
The report is themed “Behind Every Euro Laundered Lies a Victim,” which the FIAU said reflects the human impact of financial crime, including fraud, corruption, trafficking and exploitation.
In a statement accompanying the report, FIAU director Alfred Zammit said the authority’s work remained focused on protecting both Malta’s financial system and society from the proceeds of crime.
“Our work is purpose-led and human-driven: every improvement we make, every risk we mitigate, every suspicious report we analyse, serves people first,” Zammit said.
The report also outlines preparations for the European Union’s evolving anti-money laundering framework, including the establishment of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) and the implementation of the Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive.
The FIAU said it continued to participate in European discussions surrounding AMLA’s development, while Zammit was appointed vice-chair of MONEYVAL for the 2026-2028 term.
According to the report, fraud remained the most frequently reported suspected predicate offence, accounting for 28% all cases analysed by the FIAU, followed by tax crimes at 8%. 50% of the cases were registered as unknown, as the predicate offence could not be established.
The FIAU said preparatory work carried out during 2025 also paved the way for the introduction of a settlement process in April 2026, which it said would strengthen its ability to pursue timely and proportionate enforcement outcomes.
The report showed that suspicious transaction reports (STRs) have continued to rise steadily over recent years, increasing from 7,323 in 2021 to 10,712 in 2025. The FIAU said the latest figure represented a 13% increase over the 9,430 reports received in 2024.
Drug trafficking, sanctions circumvention and sanctions violations each accounted for 4% of reports.
The report also highlighted a sharp increase in reporting by crypto-asset service providers, which submitted 3,712 reports in 2025, more than double the 1,751 filed a year earlier.
While still among the largest reporting entities, reports from remote gaming operators have steadily decreased since 2022, filing 3,002 reports in 2025, down from 3,670 in 2024, while financial institutions submitted 2,098 and credit institutions 1,082.
In 2025, 67 reports were filed by accountancy and audit entities.
The FIAU said its intelligence work resulted in 4,351 disseminations to foreign financial intelligence units during the year. It also made 450 disseminations to the Malta Police Force, 493 to the Malta Tax and Customs Administration, and 258 to local supervisory authorities and other competent authorities.
On the supervisory front, the authority carried out 150 interventions targeting subject persons across both the financial and non-financial sectors. 32% of these consisted of thematic reviews, while 25% were full-scope onsite inspections.
Other interventions included thematic inspections (11%), targeted inspections (9%), policy and procedure reviews (7%) and supervisory meetings (1%).
As of December 2025, the FIAU was overseeing 2,150 subject persons. These included 562 entities within the financial sector and 1,717 within designated non-financial businesses and professions, including accountants, auditors, notaries, advocates, tax advisors, land based operations, land based casinos, corporate service providers, remote gaming companies, real estate agents and lawyers.
The report also provided an overview of the outcome of appeals lodged against FIAU penalties between 2018 and 2025.
There were appeals involving fines which amounted to €13,138,924 imposed by the FIAU. Between 2018-2025, €7.89 million in penalties were imposed in court revised fines.
The authority’s cash restriction section meanwhile investigated transactions worth €11.6 million during 2025. It received 88 reports and concluded 82 cases. Of these, 38 involved full investigations, while 25 were closed after investigators established that any cash payments involved were below the legal threshold.
Nine cases were resolved through administrative settlement and four were referred to other competent authorities.
The 82 cases concluded in 2025 included 214 persons, 112 transactions, 41 moto-vehicle transactions, 29 sea-craft transactions, 34 immoveable property transactions and eight transactions involving high value goods like antiques and works of art.
11 breaches of high value goods transactions were confirmed, involving transactions valued at €495,500 and a cash component exceeding €171,300.
19 administrative penalties amounting to €49,500 were issued in relation to those breaches in 2025.
Of the 11 breaches in 2025, five were motor vehicle transactions, five were seacraft transactions, and one was an immoveable property transaction.
Beyond its domestic operations, the FIAU said it continued preparing for the implementation of the European Union’s new anti-money laundering framework.
The authority participated in four Anti-Money Laundering Authority working groups covering nine different mandates and attended 38 related meetings, in addition to 36 AMLA network meetings.
The report also highlighted developments within the Centralised Bank Account Register, which provides authorised authorities with direct access to banking information.
In 2025, there were 37 reporting entities. Designated users from authorities who are eligible to access the CBAR directly include the FIAU, the Malta Police Force, the Asset Recovery Bureau, the Commissioner for Revenue, the Sanctions Monitoring Board and Security Services.
By the end of 2025, the register contained information on approximately 1.9 million IBAN accounts and covered a client base of around 1.26 million natural persons and 41,000 legal entities and arrangements.
Usage of the register decreased, with case-by-case searches dropping from 25,000 in 2024 to 21,000 in 2025. The number of designated users authorised to access the system grew from 97 to 118.
