Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1083753
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 20 FEBRUARY 2019 3 NEWS MASSIMO COSTA THE Prime Minister has reiterated that he has ever had any form of contact with SCL, the company behind controversial data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica, as he slammed the UK parliament for ignoring the Maltese government's sub- mission on the case. Asked whether he still maintained never having met anyone behind SCL before the 2013 general election, Joseph Muscat, who was fielding comments from journalists after a special Cabinet meeting at Salina Nature Reserve, said that he "totally" stood by his position. The Times of Malta said that according to leaked emails seen by the newspaper, SCL had offered to broker a meeting be- tween Muscat, then Opposition leader, and Christian Kalin, CEO of passport- selling firm Henley & Partners. The interim report by the House of Commons' Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee had previously stat- ed that the committee had evidence to show Kalin was meeting representa- tives from both the Nationalist and La- bour parties prior to the 2013 election and that the company had been advis- ing the Labour Party for years before that. Despite the government rejecting the claims and calling on the committee to "rectify" the "serious error", the final report retained the reference to Malta, citing "confidential documents shown to the committee". Reacting to this, Muscat noted that the initial allegations had claimed that Hen- ley & Partners had introduced him to SCL, but that this had then been flipped around. "The first allegations have been turned upside down, because they first claimed that Henley introduced us to SCL, and they are now saying the opposite: that SCL had been the one to bring us to Henley," he said. He also lamented the fact that the UK parliamentary committee had retained the Malta reference in the report's final version, despite the Maltese govern- ment having made a formal submission in this regard. "I am very disappointed that, after we made a formal submission to the Brit- ish Parliament, its select committee de- cided to ignore our such submission," he said, "[In its report], the committee based itself on information which it said it has, and I'd like to see for myself what this information consists in. "If this is the way they operate, it's no wonder that the UK is in such a mess right now," Muscat quipped. Muscat hits out at UK parliament over Cambridge Analytica report MATTHEW VELLA HSBC Malta has registered a pre-tax profit of €38.6 million as at year-end 2018 – a decrease of 23%, or €11.3 million, compared to 2017. HSBC chief executive officer Andrew Beane said 2018 was a difficult one for the Maltese financial services sector, saying it had suffered further repu- tational damage. "It is essential that all market participants ensure anti money-laundering standards are fully imple- mented without delay in order to avoid more sig- nificant long-term risks. We welcome new initia- tives announced by the local authorities which the industry must fully embrace and support," he said. HSBC's adjusted profit before tax was €36.5m, a decrease of €19.1m or 34% compared to 2017. The adjusted results exclude the impact of the follow- ing notable items: a collective agreement provision charge of €7.6m in 2017; and a provision release relating to the brokerage remediation of €1.8m in 2017 with an additional €2.0m release in 2018. Beane said the Maltese economy still performed strongly, allowing HSBC to refocus its business to deliver measured growth, following completion of an extensive restructuring process. "New digital in- novations will create enduring competitive advan- tage for HSBC as we bring a range of new world class solutions to benefit our customers and our new account opening process is delivering record volumes." But he expressed concern on European Central Bank requirements relating to the treatment of non-performing loans (NPL), which meant banks will be required to hold additional capital against fully secured NPLs. "For HSBC, the expected impact relates to loans where the bank does not expect to incur additional losses even though the recovery process currently takes years... whilst we will sustain the Bank's posi- tion as a strong dividend generating company, the Board has recommended a final dividend pay-out ratio of 30% in order to allocate additional capital to grow the business and meet the new ECB NPL requirements in the event that reforms to the cur- rent system are not forthcoming." Profit attributable to HSBC shareholders was €28.7m resulting in earnings per share of 8.0 cents compared with 8.6 cents in 2017. This will bring the full year 2018 dividend pay-out ratio to 47%. The final gross dividend will be 1.8 cent per share (1.2 cent per share net of tax) which brings the total dividend for 2018 to 5.8 cents (3.8 cents net of tax). SEE HSBC 2018 FINANCIAL SUMMARY ON PG 11 HSBC Malta registers 23% profit loss in 2018 A difficult year HSBC CEO Andrew Beane said the Maltese financial services sector had suffered further reputational damage in 2018 PAUL COCKS THE civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee of the European Parliament has ap- proved MEP Miriam Dalli's legislative report on regulating the use of more than €10 bil- lion for the European Union to support Member States, in- cluding those on the frontline, on irregular migration. "We hear a lot of the need to show solidarity and support to frontline member states in the circumstances that we live in. But this solidarity should be demonstrated in a con- crete manner. I am therefore satisfied that the European Parliament has approved this report that pushes for tangi- ble solidarity including with countries like Malta to help mitigate those circumstances that we have recently faced," the Maltese MEP said in a re- action to this vote. This fund, which currently bears the name of the Asy- lum and Migration Fund, is set to allocate €10.4 billion, 95% of which will be spent by the Member States within the EU. The conservative forces within the European Parlia- ment wanted to reduce fund- ing for the EU countries by increasing the allocations for countries outside the EU - de- spite other available funding instruments that address this purpose. "This fund is for specific measures and actions that support Member States di- rectly. Therefore I insisted for specific provisions that call for solidarity and be of support to the EU countries to help them with the implementation of their systems," Dr Dalli said. To ensure that everyone does his part in the sharing of responsibility, the report calls for minimum standards for certain goals including for the Common European Asylum System, social inclusion, legal migration and solidarity in- cluding relocation measures. The Fund also covers the re- turn in cases of persons whose asylum requests have been rejected. "I am satisfied that despite the opposition on the part of conservative forces in the Eu- ropean Parliament, this report has been approved. I look for- ward to continue working to ensure the necessary support so that countries like Malta are not left alone," Dalli said. A fund to show true solidarity with countries like Malta - Miriam Dalli Muscat lamented the fact that the UK parliamentary committee had retained the Malta reference in the report's final version