The European Cluster Excellence Initiative (ECEI) has honoured Finance Malta with the Silver Label for excellent cluster management. To date, Finance Malta is the only organisation in Malta and the first European cluster operating in the financial services field to obtain this award.
The European Cluster Excellence Initiative Label awards were launched by the European Commission to facilitate the comparison of success factors and future perspectives of industry clusters across borders on the basis of objective criteria.
As far as possible, regionally specific influences such as tax law, local infrastructure and the level of political support, are neutralised in the evaluation for the award. Instead, the assessment concentrates on organisational factors such as the structural and personnel structure of the network, member activity, the frequency of personal networking and exchange, the scope of research projects, internationalisation efforts, financial security and the long-term strategy of the cluster.
The quality labelling system consists of three levels – bronze, silver and gold. The Silver Label of the European Cluster Excellence Initiative is a quality label in its own right and confirms the successful implementation of improvement processes that were initiated by Finance Malta following the award of the Bronze label in December of 2014.
The assessment was undertaken by the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis with senior management at Finance Malta, Bernice Buttigieg, head of administration, and Ivan Grech, head of business development.
“Being awarded with the Silver Label for excellent cluster management shows that Finance Malta’s activities at promoting and growing the financial services sector in Malta are being recognised throughout Europe,” said Dr Buttigieg.
“The award is a huge motivation for us and at the same time a confirmation that we are on the right path with our strategy. But we also know that the potential for Malta to enter new markets and offer new services and products still exists. Therefore our objectives for the future is to intensify our efforts and to continue strengthening our cooperation with members of this cluster for the benefit of the industry and the country.”
Thomas Lämmer-Gamp, director of ESCA, said after the assessment: “Finance Malta is a well-managed professional cluster organisation with a committed team. It is a good example of a cluster organisation that puts the industry’s interest at the center of its activities. Discussions with senior management of Finance Malta and the results of the Silver Label audit as such suggest that Finance Malta is one of the small, but very beautiful cluster management organisations that can make a real difference for the development of an industry.”