Victor Rizzo Giusti has been elected chairman of the board of the Malta Bankers’ Association for the coming year.

The other board members are Edward Cachia, Marcel Cassar, Noel Curmi, Tonio Depasquale, Andrew Mifsud, Joseph Said, Anthony Schembri, and Shaun Wallis.

Robert Ancilleri will act as chairman of the Commercial Banks’ Executive Committee, and Noel Curmi will chair the Other Banks’ Executive Committee.

Secretary-general James Bonello will continue to head the secretariat.

All banks that are currently licensed to operate in Malta are members of the Association. These are: Akbank TAS, APS Bank Ltd, Bank of Valletta plc, BAWAG Malta Bank Ltd, CommBank Europe Ltd, Erste Bank(Malta) Ltd, First International Merchant Bank plc, Finansbank (Malta) Ltd, Fortis Bank Malta Ltd, HSBC Bank Malta plc, InvestKredit International Bank plc, Izola Bank Ltd, Lombard Bank Malta plc, Mediterranean Bank plc, Raiffeisen Malta Bank plc, Sparkasse Bank Malta plc, Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS and Volksbank Malta Ltd.

The combined balance sheet total of the association’s member banks exceeds Lm11 billion, while the number of their full-time employees is close to 3,500. The direct contribution of the banking sector to the local economy remains significant, with the payroll last year exceeding Lm35 million, taxation on profit on ordinary activities reaching Lm30 million, and dividends paid to resident shareholders amounting to Lm15.5 million.