Education Minister Evarist Bartolo still believes that Malta Financial Services Authority chief Joe Bannister should resign.

Mr Bartolo last year insisted that Prof. Bannister’s position as head of the financial services watchdog was untenable, both because of his conflicting role as director of a collective investment scheme in the Cayman Islands and because he had been at the helm of the MFSA for too long.

Prof. Bannister has been at the helm of the Malta's financial regulator for two decades. 

He also said that Prof. Bannister was tainted with having made a big deposit with a bank given a licence to operate from Malta at a time when ministers from European countries were warning the MFSA and the Central Bank of Malta about people involved in that licence application.

Mr Bartolo has never disclosed which bank he was referring to.

READ: Bartolo insists Bannister's position is untenable

Asked yesterday whether he still believed Prof. Bannister should step down in light of recent allegations linked to the Panama Papers scandal and criticism of an apparent lack of action by the regulator, Mr Bartolo insisted that the statements he made last year still stood.

“I have nothing to add to what I said last year when I made my position on the matter very clear,” Mr Bartolo said.

Pressed to say whether this meant he was renewing calls for Prof. Bannister to resign, the minister reiterated that what he had said was on the record, insisting he stood by it.

Mr Bartolo first raised questions about the MFSA chairman six years ago. Prof. Bannister was confirmed even after the 2013 change in government.

Following Mr Bartolo’s comments last year, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat expressed confidence in Prof. Bannister, saying he and the minister had “converging opinions” on the MFSA chairman.

claire.caruana@timesofmalta.com