Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/513060
Events 47 maltatoday, Sunday, 17 May 2015 The Calligaris corner in world- famous Bloomingdale's Depart- ment Store in New York was the site of an event dedicated to Made in Italy design and culinary tradi- tion held recently. The bright selection of Calli- garis smart design furniture and décor elements is now set up in over 100 square metres at this symbol of the US metropolis. The guests of honour of the evening hosted by prestigious US interior décor magazine ELLE DÉCOR, were entrepreneur and television star Joe Bastianich and American designer Stephen Burks. Other illustrious invitees included architects, design- ers, journalists and Elle Decor Editor in Chief; Michel Boodro, Bloomingdale's Vice-President James Coia, and Calligaris Amer- icas Vice-President Stefano Ul- iana. Stephen Burks, the creator of 'Frame', a metal and glass table with unusual geometrical shapes, represented the various interna- tional designers who work regu- larly with Calligaris. Calligaris is present all over the world, with more than 70 Mono- brand Stores, roughly 130 Shop- in-shops and 250 Galleries. The Calligaris range is avail- able in Malta at Ideacasa, Valley Road, Birkirkara. During the financial year 2014 IIG Bank registered significant progress in developing its business strategy which is targeted towards a global presence in international trade and commodity finance. This development was supported by yet another record year of prof- its and balance sheet growth. The Bank generated a profit for the year before tax of $2,838,714, up from $1,005,910 in 2013, and a net (fair value) gain on financial assets before tax of $5,813,860. All the previous year's revenues at- tributable to the shareholder were reinvested in the Bank in the form of Tier I capital while the Board has recommended to apply the same policy for the 2014 revenues. The Bank's balance sheet grew by yet another 40% during 2014, from $111 mil- lion to $156.3 million, the same percentage growth as in the previous year, and its equity, composed of its share capital, the investments' fair value reserve and the re- tained earnings after tax for the year, increased from $14.8 mil- lion to $20.1 million. IIG Bank has successfully built a loyal customer base support- ing both its deposit liabilities and its loan assets portfolio. In its marketing initiatives, the Bank remains focused on establishing long lasting relationships with clients, ensuring that the service expectations of its discerning cus- tomers are met efficiently and ef- fectively. Reporting on the performance of the Bank, Raymond Busut- til, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IIG Bank (Malta) Ltd, said: "The Bank has gained recognition for the qual- ity of its service to depositors on the domestic market and as a niche player in the world of international trade and commodity finance. We have achieved a lot in the relatively short period of our existence and our prospects are indeed very exciting but challenging, as we continue to expand our presence into new geographical areas with every new business relationship that we take on board." "Looking forward we believe that the Bank has a bright future ahead. The world economic climate is slowly changing from stagnation to one of growth, with the first positive signs being seen in the United States. This should hope- fully fuel growth in other parts of the world. If this continues and becomes sustainable, the result- ing increase in consumer demand would foster a better environment for global trade, despite some re- gional crises that crop up around the world from time to time. We have invested in our operational infrastructure and specialist hu- man resources to be ready and to take advantage of prospective de- velopments" "Our success is certainly a team effort and therefore I take this op- portunity to thank my colleagues and our board members for their dedication and support. I also thank our loyal customers for their trust and continued support." Following the recent launch of GO fibre, through which GO is invest- ing €50 million in order to deliver fibre optic connections directly into customers' homes, the Company has now launched a new 500Mbps superfast internet plan. The new GO 500Mbps plan, which includes Limitless monthly down- load and upload usage, will trans- form the customer experience of using the internet. With a download speed of 500Mbps and an upload speed of 20Mbps, customers will now be able to run multiple internet devices at home simultaneously and download or upload large volumes of data in seconds. Kurt Camilleri, GO's Chief Com- mercial Officer, said, "GO's Fibre- To-The-Home project is a real game changer. Having a fibre optic con- nection directly into your modem at home will transform the way you use the internet. With a 500Mbps con- nection, it will now take less than 1 second to download ten songs. "It's not just the volumes of data but the number of devices; computers, laptops, smartphones, televisions, even alarms, kettles and fridges, that can all be connected and controlled seamlessly thanks to superfast fibre internet connections." The national roll out of GO fibre is expected to take five years but more than 17,000 homes in the Sliema, St Julian's and Lija areas already have access to fibre connections and can therefore start benefitting from fibre internet speeds. A total of 33,000 homes are expected to be connected by the end of 2015. Those who wish to experience what a fibre connec- tion means, and to try out the much talked about Oculus Rift virtual re- ality headset, can also visit the GO fibre stand at The Point on Level -2 every Saturday until the end of May. The GO fibre 500Mbps internet plan is available as a standalone service and as an add-on to any GO Limitless Home Pack or Limitless Duo Pack Plan starting from €115 per month in those areas which are already fibre enabled. More information on GO fibre is also available at www.go.com.mt/ fibre 'Think. Feel. Do. Digital'. That was the slogan for HSBC's Dig- ital Week, an event that show- cased the power of the Bank 's digital innovation in making banking services more accessible and portable for customers. One such customer was Jean Paul Medati, who, apart from benefitting from HSBC's Mobile Banking service, was the winner of the HSBC Digital Week online competition in which partici- pants had to discover a hidden phrase by following clues hidden on HSBC's Website. Mr Medati was the first person to correctly find the phrase which was 'HSBC Mobile Banking is Free, Secure and Convenient' and won the iPad Air 2 which was the prize up for grabs. "It is great of HSBC to come up with an innovative way for keep- ing customers informed of the Bank 's digital services and bene- fits. I liked the campaign and en- joyed participating in the online competition. Bringing home the prize was even more rewarding," said Medati during the presen- tation ceremony held at HSBC's Operations Centre. The prize was presented to Me- dati by James Allardice, Head of Business Performance, who said, "The constant development in the Bank 's Electronic Banking systems has enabled us to roll out state of the art ATMs as well as online banking services such as our Personal Internet Banking and Mobile Banking app. These systems have made it possible for our customers to carry out the majority of their banking from any where and at any time of the day without having to step into a branch." Throughout the Digital Week campaign gifts were distribut- ed to customers registering for Phone Banking and Personal In- ternet Banking. Other custom- ers also received demos on the freely available HSBC Malta mo- bile banking app that has been downloaded more than 20,000 times since its launch six months ago. Calligaris and Joe Bastianich team up at Bloomingdale's, New York HSBC's Digital Week culminates with giveaways for online competition GO launches superfast 500Mbps internet IIG Bank (Malta) Ltd registers record growth Jean Paul Medati receiving a brand new iPad Air 2 tablet for winning the 'Crack the phrase' competition