The Instititute of Financial Services IFS-Malta recently held its annual presentation of certificates at the Grand Hotel Excelsior, Floriana.
Certificates were distributed to over 150 students who successfully passed their course of studies in B.Sc. (Hons) in Financial Services, Diploma in Banking and Financial Services, Certificate for Financial Advisers, Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice, Certificate in Home Loan Finance, Maltese Law for Financial Advisers, Certificate in Investments and Markets and Supervisory Skills in Financial Services
Tonio Depasquale, chief executive officer of Bank of Valletta, presided over the ceremony which was compered by Simon Grech, the institute's education director.
The evening commenced with an introductory address from the president of IFS-Malta, Joseph Abdilla, who congratulated the students on their achievements and highlighted the importance of having a professional qualification within the current economic environment.
The institute has revised its qualifications and introduced new ones to meet the needs of the growing financial services sector. It has also worked closely with financial institutions to offer bespoke courses. Mr Abdilla concluded by thanking the institute's committee and staff for all its work in delivering these courses and also acknowledged the support students received from family members.
Finally, he encouraged the successful students to continue making use of the institute's services to further their studies and enhance their career prospects.
The ceremony continued with a presentation on new IFS-Malta qualifications given by Robert Sultana, IFS business development manager.
Following the presentation of certificates and awards of bank prizes to the top students, Mr Depasquale delivered the concluding address in which he emphasised the importance of education, especially in a sector such as financial services, for the ongoing sustainable development of the economy and betterment of society in general.
He also said that if IFS-Malta was not carrying out its sterling work, bank employees would not have the necessary qualifications to foster professionalism in the Maltese financial services sector.