On its way to becoming a leading jurisdiction which regulates virtual financial assets and blockchain technology, the Malta Financial Services Authority is investing in supervisory and regulatory technology to ensure it can effectively oversee business in this emerging sector. Supporting this investment, is MFSA’s efforts to equip its staff as well as relevant stakeholders with the necessary skillset to adapt to these new technologies. In line with its commitment towards providing continuous training, the Authority hosted a workshop over two days, specifically focused on the role of supervisory technology as part of the Fin-Tech HO2020 project which is supported by the European Commission.

Established in January 2019, and running for the next two years, the Fin-Tech project has been set up with the aim of creating a European FinTech risk management hub. Its objective is to develop ready-to-use fintech risk management models which will be dynamically updated and aligned with best research and practice.

As part of this project, training will be provided to national regulators and European fintech hubs by a group of independent experts. These trainers have leading research expertise in the measurement of risks arising from the application of big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies, and, specifically, those arising from innovative payments, peer to peer lending and financial robo-advisory. The key speaker of the workshop held within the MFSA premises was Prof Paolo Giudici, Director of the FinTech laboratory at the University of Pavia.

Commenting on this event, Director, Securities and Supervision Unit Christopher Buttigieg reiterated that “the MFSA has already announced that it will be investing substantially in supervisory technology to ensure risks associated with virtual currencies and financial technology are kept to a minimum. We consider this investment – both in technology and in our people – as mission critical to ensure market integrity and the protection of consumers.”