Robert Galea, a lawyer with Grech and Ghaznavi Advocates, has won the first Lino Buttigieg Award for his “outstanding performance” in the IFSP Foundation Certificate in Trusts Law and Management.

Dr Galea placed first ahead of a field of 34 talented candidates who sat the Foundation Certificate examination last year. He was presented with his Foundation Certificate and the award by Andre Buttigieg, Lino Buttigieg’s son, Institute of Financial Services Practitioners president Andrew Manduca and Education sub-committee chair Diane Vella Bianco earlier this month.

The award was established by the IFSP in honour of the late Lino Buttigieg, a long-standing IFSP member, who served on the Institute’s council and who was instrumental in creating the Trusts Law and Management course in 2004.

When the Trusts and Trustees Act came into force, Mr Buttigieg as chair of the education sub-committee, understood that training was need for practitioners who wished to work in the sector.

This sort of education was not then available in Malta, and along with the rest of the IFSP worked hard to design the first course.

The demand was strong: it attracted 136 participants for the first call. The course has been held 10 times since.

So far, 664 people have been awarded the IFSP Foundation Certificate in Trusts Law and Management, with more than 800 attending the course and obtaining a foundation in the theory and practice of trusts.

The IFSP Foundation Certificate in Trusts Law and Management has been internationally recognised since 2006, when the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners ruled that any holder of the IFSP Certificate would be exempt from the Foundation Certificate stage of the STEP Foundation Certificate and Diploma in International Trust Management programme.

This is the foremost international professional qualification in trusts.

The IFSP Foundation Certificate in Trusts Law and Management is an enduring legacy of Lino Buttigieg’s commitment to his profession, to proper training and high standards in the practice of financial services.

The 11th Foundation Certificate course starts next month.

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