Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1312945
6 INTERVIEW 26.11.2020 PAUL COCKS You were appointed chairman of FinanceMalta a year ago. What is your vision for FinanceMalta? What are your priorities? Our primary goal, as FinanceMalta, is to promote Malta as an innovative inter- national financial services centre, and with financial services constituting one of the main drivers of Malta's economy, I felt it was important that FinanceMal- ta revises its strategy, to ensure the con- tinued success and sustainability of the sector within a changing world. e strategy is based on five pillars, namely innovation, value creation, in- clusiveness, internationalisation and being digital. We aim at focusing on innovating our core traditional sectors whilst continuing to assist in developing new sectors. Together with the other stakeholders in this sector, we also need to explore regulatory and operational innovation which will, from a legal per- spective, enhance the existing financial services products and will, from an op- erational side, create a more efficient and less bureaucratic operational en- vironment. In addition, we want to be closer to our members, focusing on their needs and assisting them with growing their businesses. Another important pillar is reinforcing Malta's position as a financial services jurisdiction at an international level by forging closer links to international associations and in close cooperation with all stakehold- ers. It is crucial that we work together and create more synergy for the benefit of the jurisdiction and reasserting the strengths of the sector. We want to at- tract more students and young people to join our sector and we will make sure that our initiatives target this important group as well. Our position will also be strengthened by increasing our presence across the digital platforms which will allow us to reach out to more international play- ers to further enhance Malta's strategy in financial services. We must remain forward thinking and continue to strive to uphold Malta's propositions in an ev- er-changing and globalised society. ese five pillars form the basis of the initiatives we undertake and have also been the basis of our annual conference held in mid-October, which brought together all stakeholders to discuss var- ious elements our strategy, including innovation and digitalisation, as well as Malta's response to the legal and regula- tory challenges that the sector is facing especially in the area of AML and CFT – all within the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic. How does Finance Malta promote its work and message? Who is its target audience and how do you gauge feedback? Our main objective is to be present in other countries and jurisdictions with the goal of increasing the visibility of Malta as an International Financial Centre, thereby enhancing business op- portunities for our members by which the industry can sustain its growth. We participate in conferences and initia- tives which we believe are beneficial for our members and for Malta's financial services sector. By forging alliances and new connections, we help attract new business opportunities to Malta. Needless to say, COVID-19 has changed completely the way we oper- ate. As a result of the realities brought on by the pandemic, during this year all events, conferences and initiatives we planned to participate in, got cancelled or postponed indefinitely. As a result, we took stock of the situation and strength- ened our focus on, and use of, social media platforms. Earlier this year we launched a new and highly informative website with a focus on user experience, especially for those international firms and investors interested in setting up in Malta, and vice-versa for our members to interact with these interested parties. In addition, we have significantly in- creased our presence on our social media platforms and produced sever- al informative video clips entitled 'Fi- nanceMalta ReachOuts' delivered by industry leaders as well as our mem- bers. We also launched a survey within the financial services community – to both members and non-members of FinanceMalta – to listen to what our members have to say and to see how we can improve on delivering a more tar- geted service to the industry in general. In view of the positive feedback we have received in this regard, we have decided to continue producing such clips for the foreseeable future. We have organised various webinars during the last few months, some of which were addressed at a specific tar- get audience, including students and young people, so as to better explain the myriad of career opportunities available in the financial services sector. Our main local outreach was the high- ly successful hybrid annual conference held in October with proceedings tak- ing place at a conference venue in Mal- ta whilst being connected via video to other contributors, panelists and facil- itators in Malta and across the world. e conference was being relayed live through a web event platform that also ensured networking and interaction between the over 300 registered partic- ipants. e event brought together over 35 high-calibre speakers from various sectors of the financial services indus- try. All stakeholders were represented, including the country's authorities, reg- ulators, foreign and local experts, prac- titioners, lawyers, enforcement entities and the media. How strong are financial services in Malta and how can Malta reinforce its position as a financial services jurisdiction, especially now with the possibility of Malta being grey listed being touted? e financial services sector is a key pillar of our economy and accounts for around 10% of Malta's GDP and em- ploys in excess of 12,000 people and so it would be an understatement to say that reputation is of paramount impor- tance. Trust and integrity are fundamental pillars of any jurisdiction that wants to attract investors, especially quality, sus- tainable investments. Malta has stepped Finance Malta is Malta's national promotion body for financial services and fintech related business. BusinessToday got together with its chairman, Rudolph Psaila, to find out its vision for Malta and his own outlook for the sector in the coming years Agility in the face of adversity