FinanceMalta Annual Conference to focus on innovation in financial services in the new post COVID-19 era

“Innovation in Financial Services: gearing up for the new post COVID-19 era” is the theme of the 13^th edition of FinanceMalta’s Annual Conference.

The event will be held online over three days between 13 and 15 October 2020. Each session starts at 14.30hrs and ends at 17.00hrs.

Rudolph Psaila, Chairman of FinanceMalta, said: “The last six months have brought to the fore the importance of innovation in today’s financial services industry. We always aim to address the priorities of the sector, and this year’s annual conference makes no exception. We believe we need to adopt a holistic approach to innovation. As a jurisdiction, that means we must focus on innovating the core financial services sectors, in particular, regulatory and operational innovation, whilst continuing to be creative in developing new products and new markets which are reflective of the current economic, regulatory and legislative climate. Whilst profits continue to be important, we must place more emphasis on the environmental, social and governance practices of our day to day operations.”

Mr Psaila underlined that: “The FinanceMalta Annual Conference has always been a reference point for the sector in Malta. Although this year it will be held in a virtual format, the conference will maintain its strengths: high-quality content provided by a line-up of international and local speakers, whilst giving participants and sponsors the possibility to network on our interactive platform.”

Prime Minister Hon. Dr Robert Abela will address delegates at the opening of the conference.  

The first session will be a panel discussion on Malta’s vision for the financial services industry. Facilitated by Deborah Webster, Co-Founder & CEO at AMANIcircle, the panel brings together key industry stakeholders including Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services and Digital Economy Hon. Clayton Bartolo, the Chairman of FinanceMalta Rudolph Psaila, the CEO of the MFSA Joseph Cuschieri, the Opposition’s Shadow Minister for Financial Services Kristy Debono, and the Chairman of the IFSP Wayne Pisani.

The conference will then tackle Anti Money Laundering, with two panel discussions. The first one, facilitated by Federica Taccogna, Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting, will provide a comparative overview of the Council of Europe countries’ compliance with the AML regulations. The MONEYVAL assessment, including Malta’s efforts in this regard, will also be discussed. Speakers include prominent personalities such as Mr Igor Nebyvaev, Executive Secretary of MONEYVAL, Ilze Znotina, Head of the Latvian FIU, Dr Liliya Gelemerova, Senior Financial Crime Advisor, Head of Transactions Monitoring and Investigations/UKFIU, DMLRO, Director at Commerzbank, and Alfred Camilleri, Chairperson of the National Coordinating Committee on Combating Money Laundering and Funding of Terrorism (NCC).

The second panel of the session will analyse Malta’s efforts in upgrading its regulatory, supervisory and enforcement resources to ensure a robust and healthy financial services sector. Moderated by Aidan Larkin from Asset Reality, this panel will include the Chief Officer – Supervision at MFSA Christopher P. Buttigieg, Director of FIAU Kenneth Farrugia, Alexandra Mamo, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Financial Crimes Investigations Department and Helga Debono Buttigieg from the NCC.

The second day of the conference will focus of sustainable finance. Bloomberg’s Simone Giudici will facilitate a panel discussion on the role that financial services must take on this new, emerging sector. Carlos Joly, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership Fellow and Former Chair of UNEP FI, together with David Uzsoki from the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and Malcolm Falzon, Partner at Camilleri Preziosi Advocates, will join Joseph Portelli, Chairman of the Malta Stock Exchange, in the discussion.

“Tax: quo vadis?” is the topic of the fourth session. Leading tax experts will discuss what Malta can do to keep its tax system attractive, while at the same time, keep in line with regulation and best practice. Aldo Farrugia from CFR, Ramona Piscopo from PiscoPartners, John Vella, Associate Professor in Tax Law at University of Oxford, Faculty of Law, and Geraldine Schembri, Partner at EMCS will be the speakers on the panel facilitated by Juanita Brockdorff – Partner at KPMG.

The final day of the conference will focus on innovation in the new decade. A Q&A session will be led by Vanessa MacDonald and will feature Michael Xuereb, Chief Officer Strategy and Innovation at MFSA, Stephen McCarthy, CEO of MDIA and Dana Farrugia, CEO of Tech.mt.

Two concurrent panels will follow. A session on asset management will be moderated by Kenneth Farrugia, Governor of FinanceMalta and will include, amongst others, Christian Mackintosh, EY’s UK Technology Innovation Leader for Wealth & Asset Management, Andre Zerafa, Partner at Ganado Advocates, and Antonia Zammit, CEO at Praude Asset Management.

The second panel will focus on new opportunities in the insurance sector. Moderated by Matthew Bianchi, Vice-Chairman of FinanceMalta, it will feature Javier Baixas Vall, Partner at PwC Strategy&, Robert Geraghty, Senior Vice President and International Sales Leader at Marsh Captive Solutions, Marsh, Elizabeth Carbonaro, Chairperson of MIMA, and Joanne Alamango, from Lockton European Brokers Limited.

For further information and registration details visit https://conference.financemalta.org/2020/