The new CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority, Joseph Gavin, has been given a remuneration package worth over €160,000.

Gavin, who previously served as General Counsel at the Central Bank of Ireland, is the first ever non-Maltese national to head the financial services watchdog.

The Finance Ministry provided a copy of his contract after a request was filed by The Malta Independent on Sunday.

Gavin will have a gross salary of €120,000. He is also entitled to an accommodation allowance of €30,000 per annum, and Car and Fuel allowance of €12,000 per annum.

His gross salary is slightly higher than that of his predecessor, Joseph Cuschieri, who had €115,000 per annum, but unlike Cuschieri, Gavin does not have a 20% performance bonus.

Other perks included in the new CEO’s contract are a health and life insurance policy.

The €162,000 package makes the MFSA CEO one of the highest paid public sector bosses.

His contract states that he must work a minimum 40 hours per week and cannot engage in any other work, paid or otherwise, without consent from the authority.

The contract states that the CEO must be vigilant against actual or potential conflicts of interest and against any other activity which could conflict the functions and responsibilities of the authority and which may endanger its reputation and credibility.

“The employee shall not be engaged with or provide any service to a licence holder or to an applicant which might be or appear to be in conflict with any function of the authority.”

He is also precluded from taking up employment in any entity regulated by the MFSA for six months after he leaves the authority.

His employment is effective from 13 September 2021 and the contract is valid for three years.

Gavin will take over from Christopher P. Buttigieg, who has served as interim CEO ever since the resignation of Joseph Cuschieri. The latter resigned after it emerged that he had accompanied 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech on a trip to Las Vegas in 2018. Cuschieri said he had been advising Fenech on Casino matters and was not paid for the job. The trip was paid for by Fenech.

Unlike Cuschieri, who was handpicked by then Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Gavin has been appointed through an international call for applications. Applicants were vetted by a specially appointed board.

Government sources had told this newsroom that the MFSA issued an international call “in a bid to regain credibility” after the reputational damage it suffered.

In his new role as Chief Executive Officer of the MFSA, Gavin shall be responsible for the overall management and performance of the Authority, and the implementation of reforms and consolidation in the financial services sector.

Gavin acted as General Counsel within the Central Bank of Ireland between 2009 and 2015, at a time in which the Irish regulator was undergoing significant policy and structural change, and he was instrumental in guiding the Irish watchdog during a sensitive time, post-recession.

He was more recently employed as a Partner and Head of Financial Services at an Irish law firm, providing specialist input in areas relating to regulation and enforcement in financial services.