meta_id 3231893

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has issued a Dear CEO letter to investment firms licensed in Malta, setting out key findings and expectations arising from a 2025 thematic review of marketing practices. The letter aims to provide further guidance to licensed entities on how to address certain issues in accordance with applicable rules, regulations and guidelines. It presents the key findings from the MFSA’s thematic review, identifies observations, highlights good and bad practices, and outlines the MFSA’s expectations. The MFSA's 2025 thematic review examined eight locally licensed investment firms representing 11 percent of all investment firms servicing retail clients. The review assessed five main areas: Policies and procedures for producing and approving marketing communications. Outsourcing arrangements. Disclosure mediums. Fair, clear and not misleading marketing communications. Record-keeping practices. The MFSA identified significant deficiencies across multiple firms, including overly brief or inconsistent policies, inadequate post-publication checks on marketing materials, missing regulatory disclosures and incomplete record-keeping registers. The MFSA also noted concerns about the fair presentation of risks and benefits, missing statements regarding external hyperlinks and inappropriate references to regulatory approval or endorsement. Key expectations outlined by the MFSA include: Establishing detailed, regularly reviewed policies reflecting actual operational practices. Conducting periodic post-publication checks on all marketing materials commensurate with firm size and complexity. Ensuring fair and balanced presentation of risks and benefits. Implementing robust segmentation processes for targeted communications. Providing formal training to third-party service providers. Maintaining comprehensive marketing registers for a minimum of five years. Among its observations, the MFSA identified good market practices, such as: Reviewing and keeping marketing policies up to date and aligned with any amendments or additions to the applicable rules. Carrying out gap analyses in line with the ESMA Final Report on the 2023 Common Supervisory Action and Mystery Shopping Exercise on Marketing . Setting out a template of regulatory disclosures to be included on advertising material to be utilised by the marketing team when creating marketing material. Implementing a marketing and advertising checklist to be completed for each advertisement or communication issued. The MFSA emphasised its expectation that licensed entities implement appropriate internal procedures to ensure that marketing materials are fair, clear and not misleading to its ultimate target audience. Therefore, there are expected to at all times be aligned with the requirements set out in Chapter 1, Section 2 of the Conduct of Business Rulebook relating to marketing communications.