Rudolph Psaila- Chairman, Finance Malta

Promoting Malta as an International Financial Services Centre

FinanceMalta plays a very important role in promoting Malta as an international financial services centre and offers its members a platform to network with industry peers. The Commercial Courier interviewed FinanceMalta’s Chairman Rudolph Psaila on the Foundation’s strategy for 2022, which was recently shared with its members.

WHAT ARE THIS YEAR’S STRATEGIC PRIORITIES FOR FINANCEMALTA?

This year was the second consecutive year that we organised a virtual meeting with our members to present an overview of our strategy for 2022 and highlight the achievements attained in 2021. We firmly believe in maintaining regular contact with our members, and such meetings enable our members to gain insight on the various ways in which they can maximise their FinanceMalta membership. The strategy for 2022 encompasses new initiatives that we will undertake, but also aims at consolidating the work completed in 2021. With the objective of aligning our action plan with the interests of our members, we have also organised sectorial meetings with industry players to define a detailed business development strategy and to gather ideas on promotional actions to be implemented in each sector. One of the initiatives which was launched in 2021 and which will be retained in 2022 is the podcast series “#FinTalks – A chat with FinanceMalta”. The podcast, available in both video and audio format, was welcomed by our members as it provided them with visibility, regulatory updates, and industry insights – this is indeed the reason why we decided to retain the initiative. 2021 WAS SURELY A CHALLENGING YEAR FOR THE INDUSTRY AND DESPITE THESE DIFFICULTIES YOU WERE BACK ON THE ROAD PROMOTING VARIOUS SECTORS IN A NUMBER OF JURISDICTIONS. CAN YOU DESCRIBE LAST YEAR’S KEY ACHIEVEMENTS?

We are all aware that the preceding two years gave rise to new challenges, and in 2021 we had to continually adjust the manner in which we functioned. The industry had to face the consequences derived from Malta’s greylisting by the FATF, and also those relating to the pandemic, which affected all sectors and all countries. During the first three quarters of the year, we concentrated our efforts on digital activities and virtual events. Upon improvement of the circumstances towards the end of summer and in the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2021, we resumed our physical participation in international events around the globe. Amongst these events were the New Statesman Fintech Summit, held in London, the GCC Family Investor Annual Summit in Dubai, the European Captive Forum in Luxembourg, and the Family Office Forum held in Zurich. We also organised a key local networking event for stakeholders in the insurance sector and our plan is to organize similar events for all sectors during 2022. The main activity of FinanceMalta was the 14th Annual Conference held in July with the theme “Emerging Stronger”; this portrayed the eagerness of the Maltese financial services industry to come forward following the changes and developments experienced both locally and internationally. We held the conference in a hybrid format and we received the usual, strong response by the local community, which actively contributed to the event.

“We will continue to foster a close collaboration with the World Alliance of International Financial Centres (WAIFC) whose goal is to facilitate cooperation by representing the world’s major financial centres.”

Rudolph Psaila Chairman of FinanceMalta

THE WAY FINANCEMALTA COMMUNICATES WITH ITS MEMBERS, STAKEHOLDERS AND THE PUBLIC IS KEY TO ITS OBJECTIVES. HOW DO YOU EVALUATE YOUR COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY AND HOW WILL IT EVOLVE THROUGHOUT THIS YEAR?

Over the past year, we undertook several digital initiatives to enhance and improve the communication aspect. I have already mentioned the #FinTalks. In addition to these, we further increased our digital presence with a broader variety of content to maximise visibility, whilst offering quality content in the mainstream media. We also ensured that Malta was promoted at an international level: 17 speaking positions and more than 50 delegate passes for international conferences and events were allocated to FinanceMalta members throughout 2021. We are confident that these figures will be much higher for 2022 as the pandemic restrictions around the globe are eased and lifted.

ONE KEY ASPECT OF YOUR STRATEGY IS THE INTERNATIONALISATION OF FINANCEMALTA. CAN YOU ELABORATE ON WHAT IS BEING DONE IN THIS RESPECT?

Internationalisation is a strategic imperative and remains a priority in an ultra-connected world. We will continue to foster a close collaboration with the World Alliance of International Financial Centres (WAIFC) whose goal is to facilitate cooperation by representing the world’s major financial centres. Furthermore, we will benefit greatly from our participation in the recently set-up European Roundtable of Financial Centres, an alliance that gathers 11 financial centres from 7 European countries, and of which we are founding members. We will work to establish more international partnerships, also in cooperation with the Maltese diplomatic corps, to maximise our reach in the most important markets for our jurisdiction.

FinanceMalta is the public-private initiative set up to promote Malta as an International Financial Services Centre. n