Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1263290
25.06.2020 NEWS HSBC Malta launches innovative online Live Chat for commercial banking customers HSBC Malta has launched an online live chat service for businesses in Malta. is service is in line with the bank's digitalisation strategy, further enhancing customer accessibility to HSBC. Live Chat is a digital ser- vice that enables custom- ers to have a text-based re- al-time conversation with an HSBC Malta employee, while using HSBC's busi- ness website, without the need to call the Contact Centre, or visit a branch. is service is available from 9:00am to 4:00pm from Monday to Friday. Joyce Grech, Head of Commercial Banking at HSBC Malta, said that through this new online chat service, HSBC contin- ues to leverage technology to enable quicker and bet- ter access for its customers. "HSBC's Live Chat can be found on both the landing page and the Contact Us section of our website," she said. "Customers, as well as non-customers, may ini- tiate chats in English with our Commercial Banking Contact Centre agents. e Live Chat implemen- tation follows the success- ful launch of the Virtual Assistant last February and is another milestone in HSBC Commercial Bank- ing's digitalisation strate- gy." e new live chat service is available on the HSBC Commercial Banking web- site: http://www.business. hsbc.com.mt/ UNEMPLOYMENT continued to rise in May with figures out today showing that 4,409 people were registering for work. is represents an increase of 430 over the previous month and a whopping in- crease of 2,740 when compared to May last year. e National Statistics Office said unem- ployment increased across all age groups. e figures are conditioned by the COV- ID-19 pandemic as containment measures included the forced closure of shops and activities that resulted in some businesses laying off workers. e data made available by Jobsplus showed that the largest increase was re- corded among persons who had been reg- istering for less than 21 weeks. ose who had been registering for work for more than one year, decreased when compared to the same month last year. e number of persons with a disability who were registering for work increased by 47 when compared to the previous year, reaching 263. e largest share of males and females on the unemployment register sought occu- pations as clerical support workers, with 20.4% and 33.1% respectively. Unemployment continued to rise in May e National Statistics Office says that the number of people registering for work stood at 4,409 in May, an increase of 430 on the previous month THE MFSA has published a Share- holding Policy directed at credit insti- tutions and insurance companies. e policy sets out the regulator's assessment of shareholding struc- tures of credit institutions and in- surance companies and also the risk appetite in relation to the assessment of shareholding structures of such en- tities. Prospective applicants for such li- censes are advised that the MFSA has no risk appetite for limited share- holding structures that may adversely impact the overall governance, finan- cial soundness and resilience of a li- cence holder. e policy provides a comprehen- sive overview of the MFSA's approach to the assessment of shareholding structures and explains how the Au- thority assesses the acquisition of shareholding in prospective and ex- isting credit institutions and insur- ance companies. It also addresses the impact that this may have on the overall governance arrangements. A robust regulatory assessment process of shareholding structures is critical in ensuring that qualifying shareholders are in a position to carry out their responsibilities and contrib- ute to the effective governance of an institution and its decision making. In assessing the shareholding struc- ture of prospective credit institutions and insurance companies, as part of the overall governance arrangements of an entity, the MFSA follows and applies the relevant European, as well as the national regulatory framework, which transposes and reflects Euro- pean Directives. "e Shareholding Policy for Credit Institutions and Insurance Compa- nies complements other efforts be- ing made by the MFSA in promoting good corporate governance practices across the financial services industry," MFSA CEO Joseph Cuschieri said. MFSA publishes shareholding policy for credit institutions and insurance companies