Bangor Business School head John Thornton was the guest speaker at the Institute of Financial Services (Malta)’s recent annual seminar when he addressed the issue of bank capital.

Prof. Thornton gave valuable insight into the financial crisis and explained how the regulators responded and put forward some thought-provoking ideas about the future and whether the proposed new regulations are truly going to solve the current problems.

The event’s theme, “The changing regulatory landscape of financial services: a global perspective” was opened by the institute’s president Joseph Abdilla who said the organisation was committed to bringing a distinguished group of speakers together to address the topical issue in view of the ongoing crisis and pending regulatory reform.

Ganado and Associates partner Andrè Zerafa delivered an informative presentation about the root causes of the ongoing financial turmoil, the need for legislation to inspire proper behaviour and fiduciary care, and the importance of honesty, transparency and accountability. A panel discussion was held to assess the issues in the Maltese context. The panel session was chaired by Herbert Zammit Laferla, former director of financial stability of the Central Bank of Malta and included Karol Gabarretta, head of banking at the Malta Financial Services Authority, Oliver Bonello, director of financial stability at the Central Bank of Malta, Fabio Axisa, head of financial markets at PriceWaterhouse Coopers, and Michael Davis, group head of compliance at FimBank.

The event was organised with the support of Bangor University of the UK.