Transparency in Insurance Regulation and Supervisory Law of Malta

The objective of this chapter is to lay out the rules on transparency in insurance regulation in Malta. The study was designed around a literature review of documents provided by various legal firms, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), the Information and Data Protection Commissioner, the Office of the Arbitrator, company service providers, personnel working in compliance authorities and other personnel working in regulatory authorities. There are various provisions taken to ensure transparency, among which are legislative requirements covering the overall framework of the working environment in the industry, the regulations that monitor and control the specific insurance operations and the contract provisions that regulate the dealing with the contracting parties. The research presents the safeguards existing in the Maltese financial service industry with specific reference to the insurance sector. Primarily, it discusses the structural composition that seeks to preserve fairness and transparency. In the context of this research, this refers to the Malta Financial Services Authority and the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit. Moreover, disputes to this effect fall under the auspices of the Officer of the Arbiter of Financial Service and the Financial Service Tribunals. Furthermore, the research explores how organisations in the industry are supervised from prudential and conduct perspectives through an array of laws and regulations that have mostly been harmonised into the laws of Malta from the European Union.