The University of Malta's Department of Banking & Finance, under the auspices of Prof. Joseph Falzon as Head of the Department and Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Accountancy and Management, has recently successfully organized the second annual Banking & Finance conference. The aim of this conference is to hear from top international and local experts from academia, regulatory agencies, politicians and practitioners about the current major issues affecting the world of finance and banking with a particular emphasis on the issues most relevant to Malta. The conference is aimed at and was attended by both local banking and finance practitioners and the University’s students following Banking & Finance courses. The conference consisted of a mixture of academic and practitioners’ presentations, and panel discussions. At the end of the conference, Prof. Joseph Falzon proceeded to present the awards to students who performed well and graduated in 2015 (2014/2015 academic year) in Bachelor of Banking & Finance (Hons). Prof. Joseph Falzon also thanked all the sponsors for their generous contributions and for making this activity possible.
The keynote address was provided by Prof. Charles Goodhart from the London School of Economics on “The Evolution of Macroprudential Policy since Andrew Crockett” followed by Prof. Andrew Ellul from Indiana University who discussed “Risk Management and Governance in the aftermath of the Financial Crisis: Evidence from U.S. Banks”. Dr David Fabri, Head of the Commercial Law Department of the University of Malta made a presentation on “Issues in Local Regulation”. Mr Michalis C Stylianou, Head of the Resolution Unit of the Central Bank of Cyprus discussed the experience of Cyprus related to its Bank “Recovery and Resolution”. Prof. Falzon interviewed the Hon. Dr Alfred Sant, MEP, on the Impact of EU Tax Harmonisation on the Maltese Economy. Finally, the conference had a panel discussion moderated by Dr Christopher Buttigieg, Part-time lecturer University of Malta, on the impact of recent changes in Banking Regulation on Maltese Banks and the impact of EU developments on Financial and Taxation on Malta. The members of the panel were: Mr Raymond Busuttil, CEO IIG Bank Malta, Mr Dimitrios Goranitis, Partner Deloitte, Mr Roderick Psaila, CEO Agribank Malta, Ms Juanita Bencini, Partner, KPMG Malta, Mr Chris Casapinta, Managing Director Alter Domus, Mr Kevin Valenzia, Managing Partner, PWC and Mr George Garbolas, HSBC Malta.
The students were awarded prizes in three different categories as follows:
- Awards for students who got a first class (distinction) classification in the Honours degree. Two Banking & Finance students were awarded this prize (Ms Caroline Nabbe and Ms Rachel Meilak)
- Awards for students who got an A mark in their final year dissertation. Seven Banking & Finance students were awarded this prize (Ms Jinesia Dimech, Ms Maria Galea Salomone, Ms Kimberly Gauci, Mr Matthew Giusti, Ms Ann Marie Mangion, Ms Rachel Meilak and Mr Stephen Sammut)
- Awards for students in the three best teams of the Bank of Valletta portfolio game (part of the Bank of Valletta Investor Education Project as special sponsor). The winning team was made up of Ms Maria Galea Salomone, Mr Matthew Giusti, Mr Luke Bartolo, Ms Charlene Bonello, Mr Jeremy Tua, and Ms Caroline Nabbe. The team that finished second was made up of Mr Neil Baldacchino, Ms Ann Marie Mangion, Ms Kimberly Gauci, Mr Ranald Portelli and Ms Nicole Brincat. The team that finished third was made up of Ms Leanne Mangion, Ms Kimberley Borg, Ms Odette Caruana, Mr Amante Xerri and Mr William Galea.
We also provided prizes to the first cohort of students who graduated from the M.Sc. in Banking & Finance. The students were awarded a prize either because they achieved a distinction or an A in their dissertation. The students were Mr Andre Psaila and Ms Jana Hili.
