FinanceMalta chairman highlights Malta’s competitiveness as an EU domicile for payments business

FinanceMalta Chairman, Kenneth Farrugia highlighted Malta’s competitiveness as an EU domicile for payments during his keynote address at The Nextgen Payments Forum 2017 which was held on the 2nd and 3rd February at Le Meridien St Julian’s. The Nextgen Payments Forum is a premium gathering for senior executives involved in financial transactions and payments operations.

This two day international forum brought together experts, regulators and senior representatives from the European banking and merchant industries, with leading solution providers in an intimate and dynamic forum to discuss the current industry ecosystem, placing payments at the heart of the conversation to further advance strategic industry collaborations. The forum comprised an interactive conference model, formal and informal networking activities as well as a focused meeting platform where attendees gathered to share their best practices and business solutions.

The event was chaired by Tony Craddock, Director General of the Emerging Payments Association and included a number of high caliber speakers such as Paul Alfing, Senior Consultant Retail, Payments Advisory Group & Co-Chair, ERPB Working Group on Payment Initiation Services, Ecommerce Europe, Robert Courtneidge, Global Head of Cards and Payments at Locke Lord and Peter Locke, Founder, Fintech Ireland, Board Director, TransferMate & Susquehanna International.

In his presentation entitled ‘Malta: A Leading European Payments and e-Money Destination’, Mr Farrugia, spoke about Malta’s growth traction and key developments that were positioning the jurisdiction as an EU domicile for Payments and eMoney business. This has led to increased interest in Malta as a base for financial institutions providing money and payment services internationally.

Mr Farrugia also participated in a discussion panel on the opportunities and challenges brought about by BREXIT which was moderated by Peter Oakes.

Throughout the two day event, delegates from Cyprus, Portugal, Netherlands, France, Belgium, UK, Italy, Russia Germany, Ireland, Gibraltar, Switzerland, UAE, Slovakia and Malta also had the opportunity to participate in several panel sessions and workshops which discussed a number of themes including pension funds, securitisation and private equity and venture capital funds.

During this well attended event, the delegates also had numerous opportunities to network and discuss business opportunities and industry related issues.