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18.07.19 5 NEWS SAPIENS International Cor- poration, a leading global pro- vider of software solutions for the insurance industry, today announced that MAPFRE MSV Life p.l.c – the leading provider of life insurance protection, long term savings and retirement planning in Malta – has select- ed Sapiens' life & pension core suite and digital solutions for a core and digital transformation project. e project includes the imple- mentation and integration of Sa- piens CoreSuite for Life & Pen- sion (previously referred to as "Sapiens ALIS") and Sapiens In- telligence for Life & Pension, as well as the deployment over the cloud of Sapiens AgentConnect for Life & Pension (which was known as "Sapiens PORTAL"). "MAPFRE MSV Life has relied upon two separate systems to cover the scope of our various life lines of business, including group and individual," said Da- vid G. Curmi, CEO of MAPFRE MSV Life. Curmi said the organisation would also benefi t from ac- tionable business intelligence insights, as well as the ability to further empower its agents via Sapiens' portal solution. MAPFRE MSV Life selects Sapiens for its digital transformation project Call for quotation SUPPLY OF CLAY TARGETS Reference : SM/46/2019/QUO All quotes are to be submitted via EPPS Deadline for submissions : 22.7.2019 AS part of its growth strate- gy, HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c. has launched a €250 million HSBC International Business Fund (HIBF) to support ambitious companies looking to steer their business to new horizons. A launch event was held at e Sheer Bastion refl ecting the campaign's sea-faring theme as well as Malta's rich maritime trade history. It was led by HSBC Malta CEO Andrew Beane to- gether with Executive Director and Head of Business Develop- ment Michel Cordina, and Head of Commercial Banking Joyce Grech. Cordina said the €250m fund enables investors, traders and businesses to embark on new journeys by connecting them to international opportunities. "With offi ces on the ground in 53 countries and territories, and more than 5,000 relationship managers operating worldwide, HSBC is in a unique position to connect potential customers in new markets, provide local in- sight through our people on the ground, and off er the fi nancial support for businesses in Malta to expand globally," he said. " is Fund is also available to assist in- ternational businesses who want to invest in Malta to continue assisting the local economy to grow" HSBC's relationship manag- ers are supported by specialists in four fi elds: Global Trade and Receivables Finance, Global Li- quidity and Cash Management, Global Banking, and Insurance and Investments. "Today's economy is global and interconnected and at HSBC we are able to connect Maltese busi- nesses to fast-growing markets around the world," HSBC Malta CEO Andrew Beane said. "With the launch of our quar- ter of a billion euro International Business Fund we are ready to support local companies that have the ambition to stretch to- wards new horizons." HSBC Malta launches €250 million International Business Fund DAVID HUDSON A motion to allow the Fortina Group to pay government €8.1 million in exchange for the lifting of a restriction that its Sliema land only be used for tourism, was approved by parliament on Wednesday. The restriction on a landlocked plot that Fortina has owned for 30 years and prevents it from being used for non-tourism purposes. The plot formed part of a much larger area on which the Fortina Hotel was built and which will be replaced by a large office block, residences and a hotel. The group has argued that the €8.1 million price tag on the removal of the restriction was exaggerated when considering that it al- ready owned the land. Agius opened by highlighting the short- comings of past PN administrations, arguing that on the contrary, the present administra- tion had always tabled land transfers in par- liament for the sake of transparency. The residential and commercial develop- ment planned on the site would contribute the country's economic growth, he said. PN Deputy leader Robert Arrigo replied that the failures of previous administrations could never justify another blunder. He also disclaimed that though his sister was mar- ried to the Fortina Hotel owner, he would be voting against the motion because "wrong is always wrong". He insisted that tourism numbers were only up because of foreigners living in Malta and that in reality, the industry had taken a sig- nificant dent in recent years. PN MP Ryan Callus claimed that construc- tion works were already being carried out on the Fortina land while parliament, supposed- ly the highest institution of the country, had not even approved the motion yet. He said there was "no doubt" that government had already informed the owners that the motion would be approved. Moreover, he said independent architects had valued lifting of the restriction at €12 million, only for this to be reduced on "some- one's instructions". Opposition leader Adrian Delia lamented the fact that the government was allowing big businesses the possibility of soft loans and staggered payments when the same was not afforded to normal citizens and small businesses. He also questioned how such motions and bills were always tabled in par- liament close to the date when the parliament was meant to be adjourned with very little background information being provided. "We support investment in sport, tourism and education but we will never permit gov- ernment to do so at the detriment of public land and public interests," Delia said. Winding up the debate, Borg insisted that many of the Opposition's speakers had not even read the motion. He stressed that the land in question al- ready belonged to the Fortina Group, insist- ing that claims about government land being transferred to private interests did not make sense. Borg claimed that the business community had no reservations about the price the land was being transferred for. He also noted that Callus was a member of the Lands Authority board and had never raised any objections to the deal but was now trying to play to the gallery and imply that he had been ignored. "I only received a positive letter from the chairman, who ultimately represents you on the board," he said. "There was zero political interference and that is what is important." Parliament approves lifting of tourism restriction on Fortina Group's Sliema land An artist's impression of the proposed Fortina development in Sliema

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