Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1006805
17 COMMERCIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 JULY 2018 The Farsons Beer Festival is back THE Farsons Beer Festival, a highly- anticipated fixture in the local summer calendar, is back from Thursday, 26 July to Saturday, 4 August at Ta' Qali Na- tional Park. With free entrance, a wide choice of local and international award- winning beers, a full programme of en- tertainment on no less than three stages and a great choice of food, the festival attracts thousands of visitors each year. New in this year's beer line-up will be the new addition to the Farsons Clas- sic Brews range, Gold Label Pale Ale, launched especially to mark 90 years of brewing in Malta, as well as imported brands Kronenbourg 1664 Blanc, Des- perados, speciality beers Grimbergen, Dunkel Fester, Guinness West Indies Porter, and cider brand Old Mout. These brands will complement beers already in the Farsons portfolio, such as the Cisk range and the Farsons Classic Brews range. International brands in- clude Carlsberg, Budweiser, Beck's, Co- rona, Newcastle Brown Ale, Kilkenny, John Smith's and Guinness, together with speciality and craft beers St Austell, Trooper, Hobgoblin and Baladin. Ciders Bulmer's, Woodpecker and Strongbow complete the selection. Non-alcoholic beer Carlsberg 0.0% will also be available as well as the gluten- free beer, Bellfield. A food court, offering a variety of cui- sines, will complement the selection of beers. The Programme The programme once again features the best in the local music scene, as well as Australian band, Caravana Sun. The band are making a stop at the Farsons Beer Festival as part of their European tour, headlining the Main Stage on Thursday, 26 July. Other headliners on the Main Stage throughout the 10-day festival include, Tribali, Red Electrick The Travellers, Airport Impressions, The Rifffs, Manatapu, Brass House Unit, Ziggy featuring Skarlet and Fakawi clos- ing off the festival on Saturday, 4 August with another of their inimitable perfor- mances. Adolf Vella, Business Support Man- ager at Simonds Farsons Cisk plc and Festival Coordinator said, "The Far- sons Beer Festival is one of Malta's most awaited summer events, and this year, once again, we have tried to cover as many angles of the local music scene as we possibly could across the three stages." Doors open at 8pm every night. En- trance is free and no entry tickets are required. This year's edition is once again sponsored by Vodafone and sup- ported by XFM, Algida and Krea. Other partners include PRS for Music, Taxify, Focal Maritime, Mapfre Middlesea and Go Sport. The Farsons Beer Festival is organised by Simonds Farsons Cisk plc. For infor- mation, news and updates follow the Farsons Beer Festival on Facebook and Instagram. FIMBank receives top worldwide factoring rankings THE FIMBank Group achieved strong recogni- tion and won top industry rank- ings at the annu- al meeting of the Factors Chain I n t e r n a t i o n a l association in Amsterdam, at its anniversary meeting in June. FCI, headquar- tered in Amster- dam, is a global network of the world's best factoring banks and compa- nies, counting over 400 insti- tutional members in 90 coun- tries, and connects, educates and influences cross-border and domestic factoring as well as supply chain financ- ing, across the global finan- cial community comprising the biggest international banks amongst others. Mem- bers of FCI account for over EUR 75bln of global factoring volumes in 2018. FIMBank Group achieved several credentials during this annual meeting. FIM- Bank Malta, generating an annual turnover exceeding EUR 200mln in 2017, ranked first in Malta, with an overall service quality score of 100%. FIMBank Greece ranked 12th Best Export Factor in the World, 30th Best in the World Overall (Export and Import) and 2nd in Greece, with a turnover exceeding EUR 175mln with an 8% in- ternational market share and a service quality score of 98.41%. Egypt Factors, a fully-owned subsidiary of FIMBank, ranked second in Egypt with a 20% market share and turn- over exceeding EUR 100mln in 2017 and a service quality score of 95.83%. India Fac- toring, a majority subsidiary of FIMBank, ranked second in India with a 15% market share and turnover exceed- ing EUR 250mln and a service quality score of 94%. Commenting on these re- sults, FIMBank Group CEO Murali Subramanian said that "Factoring is a technical- ly sophisticated product and one of the most important components of supply chain financing globally, and is a cornerstone of our business. These results are a reflec- tion of our constant efforts at improving our standing as a provider of quality and re- liability, in the markets we operate in. With these results we are better placed to offer superior supply chain financ- ing and risk management solutions to our clients and partners worldwide". For further informa- tion on FIMBank's Factor- ing services please visit www.fimbank.com Med Factors Malta Hellenic Branch Greece Country Ranking #1 Service Quality 100% World Export Factoring #12 Country Ranking (Export + Import) #2 Service Quality Score 98% Country Ranking #2 Service Quality 94% Country Ranking #2 Service Quality 96% Factors Chain International Worldwide Ranking Overall (Export + Import) #30 Worldwide Bank of Valletta licensed as a Higher Education Institution BANK of Valletta is now licensed as a Higher Education Institution by the National Commission for Further and Higher Education (NCFHE). Anthony Scicluna, Chief Of- ficer Ethics and Employee De- velopment said that constant improvement was the only way forward. "Bank of Valletta has a rich his- tory in designing and running professional programmes for our employees. Over the past twenty years, our Training Centre has also been working closely with external providers to design be- spoke programmes targeting the specific needs of our people," he said. This year has seen the Bank's Ethics and Employee Develop- ment function working hard to meet the requirements of NCF- HE for the Bank to obtain the necessary accreditation. Present- ly the Bank is offering two MQF Level 5 qualifications; the Award in Management and Leadership and the Award in Managing Customer Service Excellence. Scicluna said the bank's train- ing centre fell under the umbrel- la of the Ethics and Employee Development function. "Though merely two years old, this function is run by a dynamic team that aims to reinforce the intra-employee culture across the organisation. We feel that this is critical to support the Bank's strategy as we continue to become a fully-fledged financial services organisation," he said. "Our Training Centre is heav- ily committed to continue sup- porting its employees by de- signing and running academic and professional programmes. In this manner, the Bank's Em- ployee Development strategy is aligned to the overall strategy of investing in its human assets by designing professional pro- grammes addressing the busi- ness and regulatory exigencies of our landscape." Timberland Invest Limited celebrates five years in Malta TIMBERLAND Invest Lim- ited, a financial services firm authorised by the MFSA, com- memorated its fifth year an- niversary since it set up office in Malta. Timberland Invest Limited forms part of the Tim- berland Group of Companies, which has over twenty-five years' experience with author- ised entities in Malta, Ger- many and Luxembourg. The management of the Timber- land Group considered that it made strategic sense that the operations of the group grow in the Mediterranean region. Malta was thus the location of choice for the management of the Timberland Group. Timberland Invest Limited was registered in Malta in 2013 and was authorised with a cate- gory 1A licence from the Malta Financial Services Authority in 2014 to provide Investment Services under the Investment Services Act 1994. In terms of its investment services licence, Timberland Invest Ltd has been appointed as the author- ised distributor of Timberland Securities Investment plc, an- other company, forming part of the Timberland Group of Companies. Timberland In- vest Limited thus undertakes the distribution of the bonds issued by Timberland Securi- ties Investment plc, issued in terms of its prospectus, which has been approved by the Liechtenstein Financial Mar- ket Authority in terms of the Prospectus Directive for distri- bution throughout Europe and the EEA. To commemorate the fifth year anniversary and to express appreciation to our esteemed clients, a reception was held at the Sheer Bastion, Senglea ear- lier this month. Present for the event were the directors, cli- ents, members of staff, suppli- ers of the companies, prospec- tive clients and affiliates.