Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/832512
46 Events maltatoday, SUNDAY, 4 JUNE 2017 Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in- augurated the 10th edition of the FinanceMalta conference, 'Malta's Financial Services Industry - Tak- ing the Next Quantum Leap'. The full day conference, which attracted over 450 delegates, and featured 38 speakers and panel members addressed the prospects and opportunities resulting from global events, particularly those brought about by Brexit and the consequences of this development within the context of the Com- monwealth. Other topics included Securitisation, Fintech, Crowd- funding, Blockchain, Family Busi- ness matters as well as a number of other global and domestic in- dustry-related developments. The event kicked off with a pre-conference networking event which was held on the eve of the conference at the Blue Elephant, Portomaso. This year's event also coincided with the 10th anniver- sary of the setting up of Finance- Malta. Addressing the conference, Fi- nanceMalta chairman Kenneth Farrugia said, "FinanceMalta is committed to promote Malta as a unique financial services centre in Europe and beyond. For this calendar year, the Board has ap- proved a strong promotional plan aimed to sustain the growth expe- rienced so far in the key financial sectors of Malta's financial ser- vices industry. The plan covers various initiatives supporting the Private Wealth, Insurance and Asset Servicing sectors as well as subsets of the key financial sectors such as securitisation, pensions, protected cell insurance business, venture capital and private equity business and a number of related areas of business. "From a geographic reach per- spective, the key focus will remain centred around the European markets particularly London and Milan but will also extend to Zu- rich and Geneva. There are also a number of third party events that will be organised in other EU member states which will see the participation of FinanceMalta through the presence of informa- tion stands, speaking opportu- nities as well as bespoke Malta centred events. The program also covers a number of events that will be organised in New York, Abu, Dhabi, Dubai and Singapore." Farrugia's address was followed by that of The Rt Hon Lord Mar- land of Odstock who took the stage with a presentation on 'Lev- eraging the Commonwealth's Economic and Business Potential'. The Minister for Competitive- ness and Digital, Maritime and Services Economy Minister, Em- manuel Mallia delivered his ad- dress and views on 'Malta and the new frontier in financial ser- vices.' The event also included an address on 'The UK, Brexit and Malta: Implications and Oppor- tunities for the UK and Malta' by the renowned economist Susan HayesCulleton. The second part of the morn- ing session was dedicated to the ever-increasing demand for on- line financial services, where the debate focused on the new tech- nological opportunities brought about by Blockchain, Fintech and Bitcoin. This session was deliv- ered by Steve Tendon, an expert in the field. This topic was discussed in further detail during the sub- sequent panel discussion entitled 'How & why will the Blockchain fuel Global Economic growth in the next 20-30 years? What are the Blockchain opportunities for Malta with, and beyond, Fintech?' Finance Minister Edward Sci- cluna delivered his address on the performance of the Malta's economy and provided and other related matters which impact the financial sector. The Minister's address was followed by a panel session on the 4th AML directive. Juanita Bencini, partner at KPMG and IFSP President, delivered her address on 'The business and op- erational implications of the 4th AML Directive', which was fol- lowed by an engaging panel dis- cussion on the various facets of this Directive. Jeremy Leach, Chief Execu- tive Officer, Managing Part- ners Group, commented: "We were very proud to be diamond sponsors of this highly success- ful event. The presentations and panel discussions were topical and engaging while the delegates included a great mix of interna- tional professionals. Bigger and better than ever, this event was a testament to the progress Malta has made in becoming one of the European Union's leading finan- cial centres." The main sponsor for this year's conference was Managing Part- ners Group (MPG), an asset man- agement group that specialises in structuring, managing and ad- ministering mutual funds, secu- ritisations and collective invest- ment schemes. Other conference sponsors included Swissquote Financial Services (Malta) Ltd., Bank of Valletta, and Vacan- cyCentre as Platinum Sponsors; while Linedata, Kane LPI Solu- tions (Malta) Ltd, Trident Trust Company (Malta) Ltd, Fenech & Fenech Advocates, Camilleri Preziosi Advocates and KON- NEKT were Gold Sponsors. The pre-conference networking event was sponsored by Castille Resources, and the workshops were sponsored by Curmi & Part- ners, Harbour Pensions, Active Services (Malta) Ltd, and Ascent Software, respectively. FinanceMalta 10th annual conference Street Smart TV launched at Rabat school The role of the family in elderly care discussed Fundacion MAPFRE recently inaugurated the introduction of Street Smart TV at Saint Nicho- las Middle School in Rabat. Maria Abdilla, Head of School, invited all students from Form 1 to watch one of the episodes of the fun TV programme. Felipe Navarro, CEO of MAP- FRE Middlesea and who was representing Fundacion Mapfre, explained that Street Smart TV was another educational project promoted by the foundation. In fact, Street Smart TV is an extension of Street Smart School Campaign, a project which has been running for two years and that took three comedy actors to virtually every secondary school auditorium on the island to elu- cidate matters of road safety to students between the ages of 10 and 16. by Director General Maria Mc- Namara asked students to be very careful on the streets and to be "street smart" paying particular attention when crossing the road and avoiding being distracted by use of mobile phones. Street Smart TV is a fun, eas- ily accessible television program comprising of 12 parts. Each episode, hosted by the funny and charming Sally and Jazz discuss- es one of several topics covered by the project including crossing the road safely, running safely in the streets, road signs and safety belts. The programme was also aired in its entirety on One TV. Funda- cion Mapfre are now looking for- ward to making this educational resource freely available for all educators via a dedicated You- tube channel. The episodes may then be presented to the class- room using interactive white- boards. The project is a collaboration between Fundacion Mapfre, JP Advertising and Generation Green. The series was written and directed by Jon Mallia, co- directed and edited by Andrew Randon for Randon Films and produced by Matthew Randon. The Director of elearning, Ema- nuel Zammit and School Princi- pal Josephine Mifsud were also present during the event. The second edition of the Care- Malta Academy Forum was re- cently organised by CareMalta, a leading company in healthcare. The discussion addressed 'The Role of the Family in Elderly Care' and the forum was led by Ms Claire Agius Ordway. In her introductory speech CareMalta CEO Natalie Briffa Farrugia spoke about the com- pany's involvement in the formal care sector in the past 25 years and how the family's continued presence in the life of the elderly person is crucial to the older per- son's well-being. "I can honestly say that the care and love provided by fam- ily members even when the older person is cared for in a compre- hensive manner by profession- als, is imperative and makes a big difference in the life of the older person"she said. Keynote speaker Godwin Mifsud, Director General from the Economic Policy Depart- ment, Ministry for Finance delved into the economic insight on informal care in Malta. He discussed statistics of population trends, demographic trends and life expectancy among other data and information. Maria Camilleri, Social Worker CommCare Assessment Unit spoke about the services provid- ed by the state to the elderly liv- ing in the community. These ser- vices include home help, telecare, meals on wheels, handyman ser- vices, day and night centres. She discussed the current services being offered and the challenges they are faced with on a day to day basis when dealing with the elderly and family members. Special guest Michelle Muscat attended this event and shared her own personal experience as an informal carer of her own par- ents. In between speeches an open discussion with guests was held where various opinions about this topic were shared by the dif- ferent stakeholders, from carers to family members and the elder- ly residents themselves. Michael Farrugia, Minister for the Family & Social Solidarity closed off the forum stressing the importance of community ser- vices to prolong the elderly's stay within his or her own home. He thanked all parties involved in this sector and augered more col- laboration in this sector for the benefit of the elderly persons as well as their family. The CareMalta Academy is CareMalta's educational arm. It has been responsible for the training of around 1000 care- workers since it was set up in 2010. From time to time it also provides training to informal carers through its community outreach programme. Malta's financial services industry - Taking the next quantum leap The Visa Digital breakfast was organised for Visa clients, banks and the Central Bank of Malta and was held at the Westin Dragonara last month. During the event, two international digital experts from Visa talked about Next Generation mobile payments and how payment methods are evolving.