Newsletter

We publish a newsletter for our stakeholders three times annually—in April, August, and December. This electronic publication features informative interviews, updates on legislation and other relevant developments, case summaries, and the latest news about our office and its staff.  If you would like to receive our newsletter and periodic updates about our work, please follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Issue 4 (April 2025)

Key highlights

• The Arbiter reports a productive Q1 with 38 decisions issued, compared to 29 and 18 in the same periods of 2024 and 2023 respectively.
• 59 new complaints registered in Q1 2025, with significant progress in mediation resulting in 30 cases settled at this stage.
• Launch of our first three-year Strategic Plan (2025-2027), establishing six key priorities to enhance our dispute resolution services.
• Important amendments to the Arbiter for Financial Services Act expanding the definitions of "customer" and "eligible customer" to include fraud victims (effective from 1 October 2025).
• Publication of a Technical Note providing guidance on determining complaints about 'pig butchering' scams.

Featured content

• A word from the Arbiter on the Office's activities in Q1 2025
• Five consumer-focused 'Lessons Learned' covering life insurance premiums, fraud via SMS, high-yield bond investments, crypto asset investing, and invoice scams
• Five case summaries examining banking fraud, corporate services provider negligence, life insurance policy disputes, travel insurance claims, and cryptocurrency scams
• Court of Appeal review substantially upholding the Arbiter's decision in an investment mis-selling case.

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Previous issues

Issue 3 (December 2024) includes:

• Five detailed case studies examining: unauthorised payments, corporate fund transfers, life insurance maturity payouts, medical expenses claims and payment account blocking.
• Two Court of Appeal decision reviewed.
• Five consumer-focused 'Lessons Learned' covering: fraudulent payment prevention, life policy management, AI investment platform fraud, crypto asset investing guidance and invoice scam protection.
• Two educational videos addressing scam awareness.

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Issue 2 (August 2024) includes: 

• A note from the Arbiter for Financial Services, Mr Alfred Mifsud;
• Four case summaries, covering banking transactions, a corporate services provider,  a life insurance policy and a personal retirement scheme; and
• Five Lessons Learned, leveraging the Arbiter’s decisions from a consumer perspective. These covered personal and invoice scams, investment advice, ATM deposits and crypto asset investing.

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Issue 1 (April 2024) includes:

• an interview with the Arbiter for Financial Services, Mr Alfred Mifsud;
• four case summaries, covering travel insurance, a retirement scheme, a bank transfer and a purchase order for shares;
• nine takeaways from decisions of the Arbiter following the publication of a new framework Model for Allocation of Responsibility between Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and Payment Services Users (PSUs) in case of payment fraud scams; and
• amendments to the Arbiter for Financial Services Act.