Malta’s financial watchdog fines Glitnor Group

The FIAU has fined the MGA-licensed gambling operator for breaches of AML rules.

Malta.- The Maltese Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) has issued a €236,789 fine against Glitnor Group for breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. The operator, which is licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), was found to have breached the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The sanctions relate to a compliance review carried out in 2019. The FIAU identified failings in areas involving customer and business risk assessments, policies and procedures and customer identification and verification.

It found that Glitnor had failed to conduct an exhaustive evaluation of potential threats, lacked quantitative data usage and failed to evaluate the effectiveness of its mitigating measures. It was found to also lack overall risk ratings, while its Customer Risk Assessment (CRA) policy and procedures were found to be inadequate, with no evidence of CRAs found for any of the customers reviewed.

The FIAU said Glitnor had not properly considered the four risk pillars: interface/delivery, geographical ML/FT, customer source of wealth (SoW), and product and transaction. It failed to obtain proof of identity and residential address for some player files within the legal timeframe and failed to gather information about the purpose and intended nature of business relationships.

The financial watchdog issued a reprimand to the company in accordance with Regulation 21 of the Prevention of Money Laundering and Funding of Terrorism Regulations (PMLFTR). It must revise its Business and Customer Risk Assessment methodologies and rectify gaps in policies and procedures.

Malta passes law protecting online gambling operators

Earlier this month, the Maltese parliament passed a bill that protects online gambling operators licensed by the MGA from foreign liability. Bill 55 has been signed into law by George Vella as Act No. XXI 2023 Gaming (Amendment) Act.

The act instructs Maltese courts to refuse to accept or enforce foreign judgements against Malta-licensed gambling companies that operate in the European market. That means it will prevent other European countries from taking legal action in Malta against operators that target their markets when operating under their Maltese licence.