Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/638406
maltatoday, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 17 Events FIMBank appoints Group Chief Operating Officer FIMBank plc has announced the appointment of Howard Gaunt as Group Chief Operat- ing Officer. Howard Gaunt is a senior banker with a proven track record in strategic devel- opment and end-to-end man- agement in major and reputa- ble financial institutions. Howard Gaunt's banking ca- reer spans 31 years in senior national and international as- signments with Wells Fargo and Company, Citibank, Citi- corp, Citigroup and Samba Financial Group. Prior to join- ing FIMBank, he spearheaded Wholesale Banking Group activities in the abu Dhabi, al ain and GCC regions at abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (aD- CB), the UaE's third largest bank as measured by assets. Gaunt's responsibilities at aDCB, which he joined in au- gust 2007, included overseeing the Group's fully-integrated customer coverage business for the UaE's Capital, al ain, GCC region and India Linked Businesses. Under his strategic guidance, the WBG's industry- specific Client Service Teams were consistently ranked 'su- perior' in terms of their under- standing of the clients' needs and in service delivery as de- termined by nationally recog- nized industry analysts. Gaunt has a Bachelor degree in Politi- cal Science and International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC), and is a Certified Investment Manager, CIMC, with the In- vestment Management Con- sultants association, IMCa. Commenting on the appoint- ment FIMBank CEO Murali Subramanian explained that the addition of a senior ex- ecutive of Gaunt's stature to the management team ref lects FIMBank 's commitment to further strengthen its leader- ship structure, at a time when the Group is pursuing its con- solidation strategy to turna- round the core operating busi- ness. "We are glad to welcome Howard as a member of our team. We are confident that his extensive experience and expertise will prove invaluable, especially at what is an event- ful time for the Group, as we continue directing FIMBank along the road to sustainable profitability and the growth of our core operating businesses", said Subramanian. For more information about the FIM- Bank Group please visit w w w. fimbank.com. Bi-annual information on Euro banknote counterfeiting in Malta In the second half of 2015, the number of counterfeit euro notes reported to the Central Bank of Malta amounted to 2,569 pieces. This brought the total number of counterfeits withdrawn from cir- culation for the whole of 2015 to 4,930 pieces (2014: 1,497 pieces). This amount includes a substan- tial police seizure of counterfeit notes which occurred in May 2015 amounting to 1,075 pieces. When compared with the number of genuine euro bank- notes in circulation in Malta (slightly above 10.97 million on average for the second half of 2015), the proportion of euro counterfeits remains insignifi- cant. It is also low (0.58%) as a proportion of the total number of counterfeits seized in the euro area as a whole over the same pe- riod which, according to the Eu- ropean Central Bank's press re- lease issued on Friday 22 January, amount to 445,000 pieces. Of all the fake euro banknotes seized in Malta over the second half of the year, the €20 denomi- nation continues to be the most counterfeited denomination with 41.9% of all seized counterfeits. During this period, the share of the €50 increased while that of the €100 denomination fell dras- tically. However, the market share of the €10 denomination contin- ues to rise significantly and now accounts for 31.6% of all pieces found in circulation. notwithstanding the low fig- ures of counterfeits reported lo- cally, the Central Bank of Malta continues to advise the public to remain alert with regard to the banknotes received in cash transactions. Genuine banknotes can be easily recognised using the simple "FEEL-LOOk-TILT" test, which is described on the Bank's website: centralbankmal- ta.org/euro-banknotes-security- features. The Bank is available to provide any support, includ- ing training to any local entities which may require such assist- ance. In the area of professional cash handlers, the Bank has continued with its certification programme through its cash and anti-money laundering e-learning modules. additionally in order to support the general public in the recogni- tion of suspect counterfeit cur- rency, the Bank has issued a pub- lication highlighting the main security features of genuine euro currency which is available from the Bank. anyone who receives a suspect note should contact either the Po- lice on 2122 4001 or the Central Bank of Malta on 2550 6012/13 or on the Bank's e-mail address at nccmt@centralbankmalta.org. ECB explains agreement on Net Financial Assets THE European Central Bank (ECB) publishes the Eurosystem's aggre- gate net financial assets and explains the agreement on net Financial as- sets (anFa). anFa is an agreement between the national central banks (nCBs) of the euro area and the ECB. It sets rules and limits for non-monetary policy holdings that are related to national tasks of the nCBs. The ECB publishes the Eurosys- tem's aggregate net financial as- sets, and the nCBs will publish their respective net financial assets on an annual basis (at the time of publication of the annual financial accounts). at the end of 2015 the Eurosystem's aggregate net financial assets stood at €490 billion. nFas have grown at 5% per year on aver- age since the introduction of euro banknotes in 2002. This is slower than the pace of banknotes in circu- lation, which grew by 9% per year on average over the same period. anFa has been used to limit the capacity of nCBs to create liquidity in accordance with monetary policy objectives. although anFa was previously a confidential document, the ECB and the national central banks of the Eurosystem took the unanimous decision that publishing the text along with an explanatory document would better serve their commitment to greater transpar- ency, in line with the ECB's decision in 2014 to publish accounts of mone- tary policy meetings and its decision in 2015 to publish the calendars of its Executive Board members. The ECB also releases a docu- ment with questions and answers to explain the details and purpose of ANFA, accompanied by the agree- ment itself. Your first click of the daY www.maltatoday.com.mt HSBC staff volunteer for more than 300 days in 2015 In a sign of growing commitment to help the society, staff from HSBC Bank Malta volunteered for a total of 315 days in 2015, or equivalent of 7,650 man hours, on a range of projects around the country. This is a three-fold increase in the number compared to 2014. The total number of voluntary days for 2014 was 97. HSBC offers staff paid leave to carry out volunteer work in the community as part of its voluntary day leave programme. In 2015, the programme enabled staff to carry out myriad activi- ties from site cleanups to lending a helping hand at public exhibi- tions. The organisations and location that were touched by the charita- ble acts of the staff included Pal- azzo Falson, an old abandoned garden near the new Msida Educa- tion Hub, notarial archives, Her- itage Malta, argotti nature Trust, Wied Għollieqa Project, St Jean antide Foundation, and Mater Dei Hospital. HSBC Malta CEO andrew Beane said: "By pursuing volunteering, the HSBC Malta staff gain per- sonal fulfilment and reinforce the fact that the Bank is so deeply en- trenched in the Maltese society. In a way, our staff demonstrate that social responsibility is beyond fi- nancial investments." Howard Gaunt HSBC staff on voluntary work in the community