Economic update over breakfast

The global financial situation is slowly stabilising but the road to recovery will still be long and winding, HSBC Malta chief executive officer Alan Richards told an HSBC Premier breakfast meeting earlier this month.

Guest speaker Winston Zahra Jr, director of Island Hotels Group, explained that between January and April Malta, like many destinations, experienced a drop in tourist arrivals, guest nights and tourist expenditure and the outlook for summer and beyond was difficult to foresee mainly because of economic uncertainty, shorter lead times and price sensitivity.

"Airline seat capacity and marketing funds have been increased to boost tourist arrivals for summer," said Mr Zahra. "In these challenging times, it becomes increasingly important to manage any operation diligently and creatively, maintaining a positive attitude, taking the bold decisions necessary, focusing on strengths while pruning what is unprofitable, and resetting employee and partner expectations through healthy communication."

Premier clients were also addressed by Martin Scicluna, head of Premier and wealth management, and Charles J. Farrugia, head of global banking and markets, who gave a detailed overview of the world economy and how the financial crisis was impacting on markets, jobs and wealth.

HSBC Premier is the HSBC Group's top personal customer proposition, available to customers who have valuable personal relationships with the bank. Premier offers personal relationship management and instant recognition 86 countries and territories.