Prime Minister Robert Abela has announced a press conference for 6.30pm following news that Malta has been greylisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Abela will be joined by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana.

The FATF grey list – officially referred to as Jurisdiction Under Increased Monitoring – includes countries determined to have strategic weaknesses in their anti-money laundering and terrorism financing framework, with a clear intention to address concerns shown.

Thirty-seven countries as well as the European Commission and the Gulf Cooperation Council voted.

The FATF greylist includes 19 other countries, including Syria, Yemen, Myanmar, Panama and the Cayman Islands. 

It should be noted that greylisted countries are still given an opportunity to turn things around – as was seen with the case of Iceland.

A study published by the International Monetary Fund last month, which analysed the impacts of greylisting on different jurisdictions, found that on average, greylisted countries experienced issues related to bank de-risking, reduced foreign direct investment among other factors.