It is doubtful whether the full impact of the global financial crisis on Maltese investors will ever be established, MFSA chairman Joseph Bannister told The Times Business.
In his first interview since the turmoil began two months ago Prof. Banister said in reality nobody will really know how much money has been lost "because there will be funds investing in other funds and new investors will have come in as they take advantage of the situation".
He also pointed out that the MFSA's information so far has not painted a clear picture of the situation. "We need to collect more information as the data we have so far covers June to September while real turmoil took place in October and November," he said.
In his interview Prof. Bannister defended the MFSA's "silence" in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 16 and the subsequent global financial turmoil that followed, saying it acted with the industry to get a clear picture of what was happening.
He also defended the way Bank of Valletta reacted, saying the whole world was in turmoil and the bank really couldn't judge what the position was.
Regarding whether the MFSA has an opinion on the fact that local banks have not fully passed on the ECB's interest rates cuts to consumers, Prof. Bannister said there was no statutory obligation to do this and that "when you bring down the interest rate then you bring down the deposit rate".
Prof. Bannister said the global financial crisis, however, has not had a negative impact on Malta's financial services sector, adding there was increased investment and interest in the sector this year. He also said the MFSA expects 2009 to be as good as 2008 for new investments.
He said the sectors with the most potential for growth in the financial services sector in Malta are insurance and investments, pointing out that this year the MFSA also licensed four new banking institutions and various trustees. Another growth potential is wealth management, and there is scope for trust management companies.
In his first interview since the turmoil began two months ago Prof. Banister said in reality nobody will really know how much money has been lost "because there will be funds investing in other funds and new investors will have come in as they take advantage of the situation".
He also pointed out that the MFSA's information so far has not painted a clear picture of the situation. "We need to collect more information as the data we have so far covers June to September while real turmoil took place in October and November," he said.
In his interview Prof. Bannister defended the MFSA's "silence" in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 16 and the subsequent global financial turmoil that followed, saying it acted with the industry to get a clear picture of what was happening.
He also defended the way Bank of Valletta reacted, saying the whole world was in turmoil and the bank really couldn't judge what the position was.
Regarding whether the MFSA has an opinion on the fact that local banks have not fully passed on the ECB's interest rates cuts to consumers, Prof. Bannister said there was no statutory obligation to do this and that "when you bring down the interest rate then you bring down the deposit rate".
Prof. Bannister said the global financial crisis, however, has not had a negative impact on Malta's financial services sector, adding there was increased investment and interest in the sector this year. He also said the MFSA expects 2009 to be as good as 2008 for new investments.
He said the sectors with the most potential for growth in the financial services sector in Malta are insurance and investments, pointing out that this year the MFSA also licensed four new banking institutions and various trustees. Another growth potential is wealth management, and there is scope for trust management companies.