HSBC Bank Malta recently announced that Albert Mizzi will be retiring as chairman and director of the bank with effect from May 31.

“It is with great regret that I am stepping down after 14 years. However, I always believed life is about priorities and at present my priority is my wife. Now is the time to look after her and give her my support. It has been a great honour and privilege to have worked with the HSBC Group, of which the bank in Malta is an important part of its European operations.

“The arrival of HSBC in 1999 has helped change the landscape of banking in Malta and having been part of this process has been one of the highlights of my career,” Mr Mizzi said.

Director and CEO Mark Watkinson said: “We are extremely grateful to Mr Mizzi for his dedicated and loyal service as chairman of the bank. Mr Mizzi’s outstanding stewardship has been instrumental to building our business into what it is today. Both myself and the previous four CEOs have relied on his wise counsel and support over the years. The very best wishes from the whole team go to Mr Mizzi and his wife Elda.”

Following Mr Mizzi’s retirement, Sonny Portelli will be appointed non-executive chairman of HSBC Malta. Mr Portelli is currently a non-executive director of the bank and chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee.

HSBC Bank plc chairman Jim Leng thanked Mr Mizzi for his strong leadership over the last 14 years. “These have been challenging times for the banking industry in Europe and Albert Mizzi has made an outstanding contribution to our business. I very much look forward to working with his successor and wish Albert and his wife Elda a happy retirement.”