Malta outranks many European jurisdictions in Basel AML Index

In the latest edition of the Basel AML Index Malta has outranked several European finance jurisdictions and has seen itself classified as one of the least risky jurisdictions in terms of risk of money laundering and terrorist financing around the world.

The Basel AML Index is an independent annual ranking and focuses on anti-money laundering and the financing of terrorist including factors that are considered to impact the risk of such including transparency, the rule of law and corruption.

Placed in 118th position out of 129 countries Malta thus outranked European partners such as France (113th position), United Kingdom (106th position), Germany (102nd position) and Italy (77th position).

Malta on the other hand was outranked by the likes of Montenegro, Israel and Sweden where the risks where considered as lower.

Commenting with local news portal MaltaToday Finance Malta chairman Kenneth Agius stated that the result reflected Malta’s robust regulatory and legislative framework “as well as its commitment to the international standards of transparency and effective exchange information through a broad network of EOI instruments”. In his comments to MaltaToday Farrugia further amplified that “the country’s high regulatory standards are modelled on EU legislation and best practice, whilst at the same time allowing for the flexibility necessary in a modern and dynamic environment, without imposing undue bureaucratic burdens on operators”.