Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said today that MFSA Chairman Joe Bannister made it clear that he intends to start the process to step down by the end of the year.

Speaking during a press conference at the Labour Party Headquarters, Dr Muscat said that the MFSA chairman indicated that he was considering stepping down at the beginning of this year "We both agreed that he conducted important work and is still conducting important work during the Maltese Presidency of the EU Council. The MFSA has an important role during this period, and in a number of EU fora." Dr Muscat then spoke about directives government has been working on.

The Prime Minister said they agreed that he would remain in his position until the end of the Presidency, and towards the end of the year, he could start the succession process, which would be open.

Asked by The Malta Independent whether there was a specific reason for Joe Bannister submitting his resignation, the Prime Minister said that it was for personal reasons, that that he felt it was his time to leave, and that he wanted to give a handover. "There were no political or any other reasons."

Earlier today, PN Leader Simon Busuttil said that a PN-led government will not keep Prof. Joe Bannister as the Malta Financial Services Authority Chairperson.

Dr Busuttil said he would not actually need to ask for is resignation as the position, much like many other chairpersons of government authorities, does not have security of tenure and holders of such positions resign after every election.

Responding to this, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that the Chairman of a regulatory authority has security of tenure and is not removed by the government of the day. "The fact that you have someone who wants to be Prime Minister saying that he would remove a regulator is, in itself, perilous."

"When being elected back in 2013, I had left a number of regulators due to their security of tenure. In truth there was a situation of controversy as we had requested the resignation of the Malta Communications Authority Chairman and the EU had drawn our attention to this. I think that the PN Leader shot from the hip when he said he would remove a regulator."

He spoke of introducing a CEO of the Authority who would have an executive role. "I believe that since we have had a person in this position for quite a while, while it does bring about criticism, it grants certainty and continuity. I believe the transition to new people should not be politically motivated by a PM who would remove a regulator, but should occurred in a planned way."