The government is working to attract new banks to Malta and was already in discussions with two new banks, said Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation Silvio Schembri.

Schembri was replying to a supplementary question made by Leader of the Opposition Adrian Delia, who said that whilst the industries being promoted by the Parliamentary Secretary were positive, they required a strong banking industry.

Agreeing with Delia, Schembri said he was not happy with the banking situation and he wanted to send a clear message to banks that they are part of the economy. He further noted that he did not want the banks to put the government in a position where it needed to intervene.

He also commented on the difficulties foreign people were facing to open a basic bank account.

Schembri also commented on the citizenship test for robots as announced during the Blockchain Summit last week which was highly criticised by the Opposition.

He explained that this test was something already done on an EU level and was not a test to give citizenship to robots. The test was to understand better the ability of the machine to access the effect and impact it can have on citizens.

Insisting that this test would only be done to regulate better these machines he noted that these robots are not like the ones seen in science fiction films but like the robots in Mater Dei to assist in surgery.