The first seminar in Malta on Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery in the Financial Services Sector was launched by Reuben Buttigieg, chairman of the training division of the Malta Institute of Management, which is investing in education programmes in the financial services sector.

Mr Buttigieg analysed the growth of the sector in recent years and assessed certain weaknesses that Malta needs to address in order to continue to grow in this area. Among other topics, the analysis focused on Maltese legislation, the implementation of directives, strategy versus legislation, innovation, business continuity and trustworthiness in the sector.

Another speaker, Malcolm Cheshire, gave the people and human resources perspective in business continuity, while Joseph Agius from Bank of Valletta explained the issues from an IT perspective. Joseph Demanuele, chief operations officer at the Malta Financial Services Authority, gave an explanation of all the legislation and directives in place and how the MFSA ensures that there are business continuity plans in place within the sector.

The MIM and the Malta Union of Bank Employees again expressed their commitment to strengthen collaboration in order to ensure having a continuous professional development programme. The collaboration between MUBE and MIM will create the necessary fora and platform to assist in gearing up even more for the development of the sector.