On Tuesday (yesterday), Alexander Demarco was appointed Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Malta after Governor Edward Scicluna and Government came to a mutual decision that he would suspend himself with full pay from the role in view of ongoing court proceedings.

Last week, a court found that there is enough prima facie evidence for Prof. Scicluna to stand trial for fraud, misappropriation, and making fraudulent gain through abuse of his office.

While refusing to step down from his role, Prof. Scicluna has been forced to bow to pressure from civil society and from within Government to prevent the continuation of the embarrassing situation.

As Governor of the Central Bank of Malta, Prof. Scicluna also serves as the country’s representative on the Governing Council of the European Central Bank. Yesterday, he submitted a letter to ECB President Christine Lagarde, saying that he will no longer exercise the functions of governor of the Central Bank until the court case against him is concluded.

Following last week’s court decision, he was also removed from his position as a Director of the Malta Financial Services Authority.

Alexander Demarco / Photo by Domenic Aquilina

Now, attention turns to Mr Demarco, who was named as the Central Bank of Malta’s new Acting Governor by Cabinet.

A career central banker, Mr Demarco joined the institution in 1984, and spent most of the subsequent three decades working in its Economic Research Department as a senior economist.

He was later appointed as Head of the EU and International Relations Department, and eventually Head of the Financial Stability Department.

In 2014, he was appointed Deputy Governor and tasked with overseeing its Financial Stability function.

Mr Demarco was a member on the Board of Supervisors of the European Banking Authority and Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) until July 2017, after which he was appointed Deputy Governor responsible for Monetary Policy.

He is also no stranger to the meetings of the ECB’s Governing Council, having accompanied and acted as alternate to the Maltese Governor since 2017.

Other roles and commitments includes membership in ECB task forces on the digital euro and on sustainable and responsible climate change-related investments, membership in the EU’s Economic and Financial Committee, and membership of the Joint Financial Stability Board.

His CBM profile mentions his direct involvement in the construction of the bank's first econometric model and his work on its macroeconomic projections.

Mr Demarco long career also saw him being actively involved in Malta's EU membership preparations and negotiations, and subsequently in exchange rate policy considerations prior to Malta's membership in the Eurosystem.

He graduated with a BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Malta, and read for his Master's Degree at the University of Warwick, UK, specialising in International Monetary Economics and International Trade.