Speaking at the 3rd Annual Fintech and Regulation Conference in Brussels, MFSA Chief Executive Officer Joseph Cuschieri announced the formation of an Academy of Excellence for Financial Supervisors with the objective of training young and upcoming supervisors, as well as giving experienced professionals the opportunity to further their technical knowledge. The Academy will be focusing in particular on training supervisors in the area of FinTech.
Mr Cuschieri described FinTech as “an opportunity for Malta, the MFSA and Europe”. Giving an overview of the MFSA’s activity as a leading regulator in terms of FinTech, Mr Cuschieri delved into the Authority’s holistic vision for this area, which resolves to create an innovationfriendly environment within the financial services sector, whilst ensuring effective investor protection, market integrity and financial stability. Referring to the MFSA’s FinTech strategy, Mr Cuschieri explained how “we have a vision to establish Malta as an international FinTech hub and are currently assessing viable solutions to foster FinTech and nurture innovation, particularly with respect to the implementation of a regulatory sandbox and an innovation hub.”
Mr Cuschieri expressed the MFSA’s intention to collaborate with its international peers and its commitment towards cooperating with other regulators: “We are strong believers that mutual sharing of expertise and experiences is highly beneficial and also has a role in strengthening mutual trust between financial supervisors.” This is inline with the Authority’s effort to not only establish itself as a top jurisdiction but to take a leading role in the shaping of the financial services industry.
During a panel focussing on the global perspective of crypto-assets, Dr Christopher P. Buttigieg, Director Securities and Markets Supervision, “Malta has a framework for the regulation of crypto assets that achieves the investor protection and market integrity objectives of financial regulation. However, the crypto asset business is global and requires a regulatory approach at international level. Europe has the opportunity to be a standard setter in this field.” In the margins of the Conference, Mr Cuschieri held meetings with a number of key stakeholders including US and European regulators.
