Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1132126
20.06.19 4 HOSPITALITY Vacancy for a Full-Time Administra ve Assistant Mamo TCV Advocates is a local law firm with a substan al amount of interna onal and local client base. Mamo TCV focuses on a broad range of legal areas and due to our expansion in the Immigra on Department, we are seeking to employ the services of a full me Administra ve Assistant in order to further enhance our efficiency in the services provided to our clients. The du es would involve, but are not limited to, word- processing and spreadsheets; maintaining manual and electronic records; performing general secretarial and office du es; use of office equipment — scanning and photocopying; prepara on of boardrooms for mee ngs; inpu ng of mesheets; a ending mee ng with clients. The ideal candidate would be fluent in both English and Chinese, have a good level of educa on, be proficient in typing and familiarity with MS Office applica ons, and other skills coupled with administra ve du es. The monthly salary would be that of €1,333.33. Applica ons are required to send a le er of applica on together with a detailed curriculum vitae to the General Manager, Michael Portelli Madden, Mamo TCV Advocates, Palazzo Pietro S ges, 103 Strait Street, Valle a, VLT 1436 or by email to Michael.portellimadden@mamotcv.com. Massimo Costa IF Malta's financial services reputation is not safeguard- ed, more Maltese banks could potentially face situations where their correspondent banks decide to terminate the services they provided, APS Bank CEO Marcel Cassar said. Cassar told this newspaper that, while APS Bank's oper- ations will not be affected by ING's decision to terminate its correspondent services to Bank of Valletta, things could chance in the future if more correspondents decide to withdraw their Malta services due to reputational concerns about the jurisdiction. Last Friday, BOV announced that ING – it's last remaining US dollar correspondent bank – would be withdrawing its services in December. In comments to Business- Today, BOV public relations head Charles Azzopardi con- firmed that ING would be ter- minating its correspondent banking services for all cur- rencies which it currently ser- vices for the bank. While the termination of its USD cor- respondent banking services will have the greatest impact, ING is also BOV's sole pro- vider of correspondent ser- vices for other currencies, including the Polish zloty, the Romanian leu and the Hong Kong dollar. Azzopardi reiterated that ING's decision must be seen in a context where interna- tional banks are cutting down on their correspondent bank- ing services all over the world. This constitutes part of a gen- eral de-risking which is taking place in the banking industry following a spate of anti-mon- ey laundering failures, espe- cially in Europe, he said. Smaller jurisdictions like Malta are being particularly hard hit, since the volumes of business they generate are insufficient to be of interest to the larger players, given the risks and the compliance costs involved, Azzopardi said. "The Bank deems it critical to have in place a network of correspondent banks that offer clearing services in the main international curren- cies, such as the US dollar," he said, emphasising that the bank was also undergoing a transformation programme aimed at lowering its risk profile and at strengthen- ing its anti-financial crime structures, systems and pol- icies and was continuous- ly strengthening its Risk, Anti-Financial Crime, Anti Money Laundering and Com- pliance frameworks. "BOV is making every effort to secure alternative clearing arrangements for currencies currently serviced by ING and any developments in this re- gard will be communicated in due course," Azzopardi added. Both HSBC Malta and APS Bank confirmed with this newspaper that their cor- respondent banks were still providing them with their re- spective USD services. Questioned as to whether the issue of international cor- respondent banks terminating their services to various juris- dictions could affect HSBC Malta's operations, a spokes- person for the bank limited their comment to confirming that the bank's services for all currencies were functioning normally. "HSBC Malta can only com- ment on our own business," the spokesperson said, "All HSBC Malta' services are op- erating normally in all cur- rencies, including US dollars." APS Bank's CEO, however cautioned that things could change if correspondents de- cide to de-risk due to con- cerns on Malta's reputation. "[The issue of internation- al correspondents terminat- ing their services] affects all banks but is even more seri- ous in the case of non-Euro payments, in currencies such as the US dollar and pound sterling," Cassar said. "I am aware that a good number of Maltese banks continue to be serviced by their USD correspondents, and APS Bank is one of them. Therefore, our operations are not affected," he highlighted. "But things can change and a decision by a correspondent to de-risk may be triggered by general reputational con- cerns about Malta," Cassar said. He noted that several factors came into play in such a situation, underlining that "whatever is necessary must be done to preserve the hard- earned reputation of Malta's financial services industry." "The reforms under way at the Malta Financial Services Authority are good and show a needed sense of urgency, but it's also important that all political, regulatory and industry players focus on pre- APS chief warns country's trigger correspondent As ING withdraws its BOV correspondent services, APS Bank CEO urges for preservation of Maltese financial services sector reputation BMIT Technologies plc re- cently unveiled a new corpo- rate brand identity, grouping the publicly-listed company and its subsidiary companies under one brand. At an event exclusively for staff and business partners held at the BMIT Technolo- gies corporate offices in Smart City Malta, the fresh identity was revealed in line with the company's new brand values that focus on its philosophy of harnessing technology to power businesses. In a short speech, CEO Christian Sammut outlined the company's vision and how this will enable BMIT Tech- nologies to continue offering innovative and business-rele- vant solutions to its local and international customer base. BMIT Technologies plc unveils new corporate brand identity