Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1481025
10 COMMERCIAL 6.10.2022 THE 15th FinanceMalta Annual Con- ference entitled "Learning from the past: Looking to the Future" will be held on 1 December 2022 at the Intercontinental Arena Conference Centre. is will be the first fully in-person and face-to-face annual conference to be organised since the pandemic and is considered to be the largest local gathering for the financial services industry. e conference will feature C-level executives from Malta and abroad, Eu- ropean Union policymakers, Maltese Government representatives, officials of global standard-setting organisations, renowned academics, researchers and more. e theme of this year's conference reflects the challenges that the sec- tor has gone through, and still is going through, in Malta as well as in other jurisdictions. ese include the ongo- ing COVID-19 pandemic, the FATF grey listing and eventual white listing, the Russia-Ukraine war and the rapid increase in inflation and cost of living. FinanceMalta's event will focus on the lessons learnt but also will take a look forward and see how, collectively, Malta can continue to seize the opportunities for growth in financial services, amidst an ever-changing economic and regula- tory environment. FinanceMalta's Chairman George Vella said: "It feels good to host once again, in a face-to-face format, our annual con- ference. It will be a great opportunity to analyse what has been another unprec- edented year and, most importantly, to look into the opportunities for 2023 and beyond. We will do this with a line-up of excellent speakers and we look forward to providing, once again, a platform to discuss the future of the Maltese finan- cial services industry." e annual conference will feature prominent keynote speakers from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Organisation for Economic Co-op- eration and Development (OECD), the London School of Economics (LSE) Law School and more. Malta's Prime Minis- ter Robert Abela and the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola will be addressing the conference. e event will be chaired by Deborah Web- ster. e annual conference will be opened by FinanceMalta's Chairman, and the first panel session will be titled "A look at our lessons and achievements in 2022". Webster will moderate the panel discus- sion, which will include Dr. Helga Butti- gieg Debono, Executive Head, National Coordinating Committee on Combating Money Laundering & Funding of Ter- rorism (NCC), the MFSA, the Director of the FIAU Kenneth Farrugia and MBR CEO Geraldine Spiteri Lucas as panel- lists. Plans for the financial services indus- try for 2023 and beyond will be the main theme of a live panel session moderat- ed by the Malta Chamber Chairperson Marisa Xuereb. Panellists for this session include Malta Financial Services Advi- sory Council Chairman Joseph Zammit Tabona, Economist Gordon Cordina and Institute of Financial Services Practition- ers President Tonio Zarb. Banking in Malta in the context of Eu- ropean regulatory developments will take centre stage in a panel session that will include Fabio Axisa, Chairman of the Banking and Payments working group within the MFSAC's Action Com- mittee; MBA Chairman Marcel Cassar; and MFSA's Head of Supervision David Eacott. In the afternoon, the focus will shift on to Sustainable Finance. A fireside chat will take place which will be mod- erated by financial consultant Steve El- lul, with the participation of Professor Andreas Hoepner and Gabriella Borda, Co-Founder Avvena - Sustainability and Decarbonisation Advisor. e annual conference will then discuss Good Governance. Trust in the reliability of the financial system is crucial in order to contribute to the proper functioning of the economy and good governance is a prerequisite to build such trust. is theme will be debated in a pan- el session facilitated by erisa Mall- ia, Lead, Policy, Advisory & Training, Anti-Financial Crime Department at Bank of Valletta. She will be joined by Carmine Di Noia, Director of the OECD's Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs; FATF President for 2020-2022 Marcus Pleyer; and Man- fred Galdes, Managing Partner at ARQ Malta. e conference will also delve into the topic of Digital Revolution and Digital Finance. e adoption of the European Commission's digital finance package which includes a digital finance strate- gy, legislative proposals on crypto-as- sets and digital resilience, as well as a renewed retail payments strategy, will be discussed during this session. A fire- side chat on these themes will be led by Wayne Pisani, Chairman of the Regulat- ed Business Subcommittee at IFSP, who will be joined by Dr Phillip Paech, Asso- ciate Professor of Law at LSE Law School as well as GTG Advocates Managing Di- rector Ian Gauci. e closing session of FinanceMalta's 15th Annual Conference will delve into how the sector can attract and develop talent, upskill and reskill the workforce, as well as retain existing talent. e final panel session for the day, moderated by Talent Advisor and Head- hunter Fran Moisa, will include Mat- thew Vella, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation; Identity Malta CEO Mark Mallia; Director of the Insti- tute of Business Management and Com- merce at MCAST Andrew Galea; and the Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Management & Accountancy at the Uni- versity of Malta, Emanuel Said. A networking event for delegates and speakers will be held on the eve of the annual conference, on 30 November, at the Magazino Hall in Valletta. e annual conference of FinanceMalta also offers the possibility to companies to increase their visibility through a num- ber of sponsorship packages. For more information on the Finance- Malta Annual Conference, sponsorship opportunities as well as to register and benefit from the early bird offers, visit https://www.fmannualconference.org/ FinanceMalta to host its 15th annual conference APS Bank celebrating Customer Experience Day ON the occasion of Customer Experi- ence (CX) Day, celebrated on 4 October 2022, APS Bank Voice of the Customer (VoC) Team spent the day visiting the branch network and other Bank offices. e team met customers and staff members alike, and heard directly from them about their customer experience. Cookies were given out as a token of appreciation and to commemorate this day of global celebration, recognising innovation and successes in the custom- er experience industry. Scott Lee Holloway, Voice of the Cus- tomer Manager commented, "As a bank, we truly believe in placing our custom- ers at the heart of all that we do. e VoC team looks at things through a uniquely customer-focused lens, and champions this perspective across the business. A deep understanding of customer expe- rience distinguishes us for the positive experience our customers enjoy." The VoC Team visited the Qormi and Mosta APS branches