His Grace Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna regularly pontificates on good governance. During the Independence Day sermon at High Mass, he even dwelt at length on greed and its negative impacts on society.

Some time ago, His Grace was described as a part-time Archbishop, in view of the considerable time he spent abroad in his other job as the Vatican's peripatetic investigator on sex crimes of the clergy. When His Grace has a break from investigating the clergy in other countries, he may dedicate adequate time to address the local handling of the Church's investments. Instead of hiding behind proxies, he will possibly have the time to answer and be accountable for the APS secret dealings with HSBC.  Emphasising that he is not involved in the day to day running of the bank, in practice, means nothing at all. As majority shareholder, the buck stops on his desk.

The Church in Malta controls the majority shareholding in APS. The 2023 APS Annual report confirms that the Archdiocese of Malta and the Gozitan Diocese together own 67.9 per cent of APS shareholding.

Following the local Stock Exchange online noticeboard, one notices, on a regular basis, notifications by various listed companies on issues being dealt with by these companies. These are issues which have some bearing on the performance of the listed stock or shares. These notifications vary from those relative to the sale or purchase of property to negotiations on the purchase of some company or other.

Only last week, for example, we were informed, pursuant to the Capital Market Rules of the Malta Financial Services Authority, that GO plc is currently in discussions with a view towards the acquisition of 100 per cent of the shares of a particular company, which is mentioned in the notification.

Yet, notwithstanding, the negotiations between APS and HSBC, relative to the purchasing of HSBC shareholding by APS, ongoing for quite some time, were kept secret. Then, suddenly, after a cryptic announcement by HSBC all hell broke loose, impacting substantially the shares of both APS and HSBC. This affected negatively a substantial number of pensioners who invested their savings in these shares in order to supplement their National Insurance pensions. Millions of euros in value of HSBC shares were wiped off.

The Capital Market Rules are intended to ensure transparency, in the interest of the proper functioning of the market, as well as in the interest of all investors, small or large.  How come that God's Banker was permitted to ignore what is fundamental for the rest of the market? The regulator has been silent, so far, on this blatant ignoring by APS of the transparency rules of the Stock Exchange.

One would have expected that the Church's Bank acts properly, keeping the market well informed, and not act secretly, away from the prying eyes of inquisitive investors.

It is about time that instead of issuing information tit-bits through proxies, His Grace clearly informs the market of his APS plans. Instead of pontificating on good governance would it not be better if His Grace ensures that his bank practices what he preaches?

It is not just the market which seeks adequate and timely information. A Valletta Parish Priest who sits on one of the decision-taking bodies within the Church has complained on the media that the clergy has been kept in the dark about the whole matter. This whole saga is harming the Church in Malta and undermining her credibility.

Unfortunately, God's Banker lacks consistency and transparency. Maybe he will seek to explain this in his next sermon!

An architect and civil engineer, the author is a former Chairperson of ADPD-The Green Party in Malta.  [email protected] ,   http://carmelcacopardo.wordpress.com