Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1503087
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 JULY 2023 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA AN elected Bank of Valletta di- rector is being pressured to give up court action he recently filed, after a data protection complaint against the bank. The action was filed by James Grech, a former worker-direc- tor who has since 2015 been regularly returned to the board by shareholders. It concerns ir- regular handling of his individ- ual assessment as director. But Grech, who unsuccess- fully contested the 2019 MEP election and 2022 general elec- tion with the Labour Party, was recently told by BOV chairman Gordon Cordina to "remedy" his conflict with the bank after his privacy complaint was not upheld by the Information & Data Protection Commission- er. The matter is still under ap- peal before the IDPC Appeals Board, while Grech – the long- est-serving director on the BOV Board – is now pursuing legal action against the bank in the Maltese courts. Draft assessment 'emailed' to ECB Grech contends that an as- sessment of his directorship by external consultants Prom- ontory in November 2019, was shared with the European Central Bank by former CEO Rick Hunkin without passing through the bank's normal channels of reporting. It was only through official data requests in 2022 that Grech found out that his some- what negative individual as- sessment had been shared with the financial regulator MFSA and the ECB as early as Decem- ber 2019, only weeks after the interview. The Promontory assessments were later discarded by the bank. But the upshot of this un- orthodox sharing of his data could have been to undermine his prospects of being returned to the board. Grech believes this was clear enough when for- mer bank chairman Deo Scerri informally told him, soon after the Promontory interview, that he should not run for the direc- torship again due to "a lack of favour" from the regulators. Grech said this advice was immediately contrasted by his green-lighting from the reg- ulators in December 2019 for his re-election to director by shareholders in the previous AGM. But right up till 2022, the bank denied having sent his individ- ual assessment to the ECB. Grech only received an offi- cial copy of the assessment in November 2021, after filing his data protection complaint with the IDPC, and a full six months since filing a data subject re- quest with the bank. Hunkin resigned in October 2022 shortly after his appoint- ment as CEO for a transition period in 2020, and was paid over €380,000 in his final year of service. That same year, Grech learnt through his own official data requests to the ECB and the MFSA that they had received his individual report in Decem- ber 2019, just weeks after his Promontory interview. Grech accused the bank of dissembling on Hunkin's ac- tions, accusing the acting CEO of breaching internal policies, since the practice was that di- rectors' individual reports are merged into a collective report. And it was only after Grech's IDPC complaint that BOV con- ceded that this disclosure had occurred outside of its "nor- mal channels of reporting as the report was only available to a limited number of per- sons within the bank on a strict need-to-know basis." Court action against BOV Grech's complaint to the ID- PC was not upheld, after BOV directors submitted affidavits confirming they were aware that their individual assess- ments would be shared with the ECB and the Maltese finan- cial regulator, the MFSA. Grech has now lodged an appeal to the IDPC Appeals Board, and is challenging the bank in a separate court ac- tion over Hunkin's dispatch of his individual assessmenet to the ECB: Grech contends that while the ECB is entitled to ask for his individual assessment, it was only once they had re- ceived the collective report which, it turns out, was only fi- nalised years later because the original Promontory assess- ments were not even taken on board by BOV. Grech insists that BOV had processed his individual as- sessment with third parties, despite denying the claims, and that Hunkin's actions were car- ried out "for motives that were irrelevant to the exercise un- derwary, based on a misinter- pretation of laws and industry practices." Grech was in the process threatened with disciplinary action for pursuing his IDPC complaint. In June 2023, he filed for damages, asking the law courts to find BOV responsible for breaching its internal policies, and appoint a court expert to examine whether the bank broke its fiduciary duties. In its reply of 9 June, BOV said that Hunkin's decision to send the individual report to the ECB was "to show that the bank was taking the necessary steps in taking measures" related to di- rectors' assessments. Two weeks later, BOV in- formed Grech that his court action was creating reputation- al costs for the bank, accusing him of having a conflict of in- terest and making fellow board directors uncomfortable about holding "a frank and open de- bate about certain matters". The case continues. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt BOV challenged by director over data protection breach Elected director says former CEO Rick Hunkin sent ECB his individual assessment weeks after interview in a bid to undernine future election to the board James Grech has been regularly returned to the BOV board of directors since 2015 Grech was recently told by BOV chairman Gordon Cordina to "remedy" his conflict with the bank after his privacy complaint was not upheld by the Information & Data Protection Commissioner