MFSA publishes its Supervisory Priorities for 2020 indicating key areas of activity for the coming year

● Document focuses on six pillars of activity for the year 2020 ● Priorities take into account regulatory developments, EU supervisory expectations and the MFSA’s past supervisory experience ● Publication emphasises MFSA’s effort at engaging with indust

The MFSA has today published its Supervisory Priorities for 2020, laying out detailed key areas where the Authority will be focusing its supervisory efforts for the year ahead, based on the objectives set out in the Strategic Plan 2019-2021. The key areas of activity will range from governance and culture, financial crime and retail investor protection to cross-border operations, cybersecurity and financial soundness. These activities will be supplementing the dedicated priorities that the MFSA has set out for the different areas of the financial services industry.

These priorities have been developed taking into account the market environment, legislative and regulatory developments, the supervisory programmes of European supervisory authorities, recommendations by international standardsetters, as well as the MFSA's past supervisory experience, as highlighted recently in the Authority's publication of its supervisory expectations last month.

In this document, the MFSA is also indicating the regulatory and supervisory tools being used in carrying out its work, including onsite visits, desk-based reviews, thematic reviews, supervisory engagement and deep-dives addressing specific risk areas.

Commenting on the launch of the Supervisory Priorities, MFSA CEO Joseph Cuschieri noted that “The MFSA’s recent organisational restructuring brought the three pillars of our supervisory strategy - prudential, conduct and financial crime compliance supervision - under the same remit. We are also investing in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity expertise within the Authority as a fourth pillar of our supervisory strategy. This was required as part of our adoption of a more holistic approach to supervision throughout the lifecycle of licensed entities.”

Joseph Cuschieri added that "One of our key commitments of our supervisory remit is to increase our engagement with industry and the public. By virtue of this publication we are increasing accountability and transparency, enabling industry and consumers to better understand our work and priorities."