Malta lacks trust, credibility, and a good reputation for the financial sector to thrive – Bernard Grech

Although the financial industry has been thriving in Malta for many years, today Malta lacks the trust, credibility, and reputation that it needs to continue to thrive, Opposition leader Bernard Grech said.

Malta was placed on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list a few weeks ago, casting doubt over the financial sector in this country. However, Grech said that the Opposition is

willing to work with the Government to help Malta get out of the grey list, as the country currently lacks the desirable status.

"It is paramount to understand and appreciate that the financial services industry is one of the pillars of the Maltese economy. This didn't happen by chance. It happened because both parties since 1994, since the National Party in Government decided to go for the sector," Grech remarked.

The Opposition leader remarked that in years gone by, the country made sure that this sector became successful as it built the industry on the country's "trust, credibility, and reputation", apart from the reputation of "multiple professionals and all the financial sector employees."

However, the Opposition leader said that this is something that needs to be worked on today. "What we have now today is, unfortunately, the lack of all these three, and this is what we need to start addressing as soon as possible. Through trust and credibility, we can get back the reputation that Malta deserves," he said.

Leader of the Opposition Bernard Grech

Grech remarked that to get there, the country needs to not only look at the technical aspect to tick all the boxes, "but we have to also convince our international partners, we have to convince also professionals abroad, and also countries like America, England, Germany and the rest, that Malta has and should be trusted," he said.

The Opposition has been working

"since day one", as it "offered [its] full support and collaboration" with the Government, Grech said. "This has to be the way forward the bipartisan approach to gain back credibility. But to go there, we need more information,"

"This is why we asked the Government to publish what the FATF said to give us access to the correspondence we already and will be, and we are also glad to give our hand to help to make sure that we do whatever is necessary. We also asked for a parliamentary debate and want and still want to make sure that a new committee is dedicated to this sector," Grech said.

However, the Opposition leader remarked that the Government is somewhat unwilling to get the help of the Opposition in this regard. "Unfortunately, the Government is still reluctant. We want to be on board, and the Government has to get us and let us be on board," he said.

The Opposition leader also remarked that the Opposition met a number of social partners to discuss the FATF greylisting to see their views and concerns.