Former MFSA chairman Joe Bannister becomes chairman of Amagis Capital

The former chairman of the Malta Financial Services Authority, Joe Bannister, has been appointed as chairman of Amagis Capital, a London-based firm that provides ‘Asset Management Architecture & Advisory Solutions.’

It has an office in London and another one in Valletta.

The company announced Bannister’s appointment on its Facebook page on 24 April.

Bannister left the MFSA on 31 March of this year, having served as its chairman from 1995 to 1997 and again from 1999 to his departure.

The authority now has Joseph Cuschieri as its Chief Executive Officer and John Mamo as nonExecutive Chairperson.

Prof. Bannister was criticized over the MFSA’s apparent lack of action when serious claims were leveled against Pilatus Bank and Nexia BT.

He also saw links in the Paradise Papers, after it was revealed that he held a directorship in a company based in the British Virgin Islands in 2007.

Speaking to The Malta Independent last November, Bannister said "that [his] involvement with investment companies had been declared with both prime ministers. Today I am no longer a director of anything," he said while adding that it had been cleared by the European Authorities.

In December 2017, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had said Bannister would serve as government adviser after he steps down from his role as head of the MFSA.