HSBC Bank Malta announced on Tuesday that regulatory approval has been granted for the appointment of Manfred Galdes as Director.

Dr Galdes took over from local leading economist and former executive director of e-Cubed Consultants, Gordon Cordina, who had been appointed to the non-exec role with HSBC in February 2017.

Furthermore, the Regulator has also approved the appointment of Dr Galdes as Chairman of the bank’s Risk Committee.

Dr Galdes is also currently a Partner of Fenech Farrugia Fiott Legal and the Managing Partner at ARQ Group. He is a lawyer by profession and obtained his LL.M Degree in European (Commercial) Law from the University of Leicester.

Dr Galdes spent the last 19 years practising in the area of regulatory and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance.

He has held leading roles both in the private and public sector. He has been involved in the drafting of various laws in Malta and lectures on a number of related areas. Between 2008 and 2016, Dr Galdes headed the FIAU, Malta’s Financial Intelligence Unit and principal AML supervisory authority.

In addition, HSBC announced the appointment of Mandy Falzon as its Compliance Officer, subject to regulatory approval, at a date still to be determined.

Dr Falzon will be succeeding Anthony Abela who retired form the bank with effect from 5th January 2021.

Dr Falzon, who graduated as Doctor of Laws from the University of Malta in 2006, joined the bank’s Legal Department in the same year. In 2015, she took up a role in the bank’s Regulatory Compliance Function and in 2017 she was appointed Deputy Head of Regulatory Compliance. Dr Falzon is a Director of HSBC Global Asset Management (Malta) Ltd.