After a career spanning 42 years across Malta’s evolving banking landscape, Philip Farrugia has retired from chief technology and services officer at HSBC Malta. His role is now fulfilled by chief operating officer Ranjit Gokarn.

Openness to change and a positive attitude key to successful career

Mr Farrugia was a key player in the development of Malta’s financial industry: he was directly involved in turning tedious manual tasks into computer-automated operations and making long queues at the teller counters disappear as ATMs and online bankingtook hold.

Mr Farrugia began his career with Barclays Bank DCO in 1969 and he also spent some time at Barclays’ head office in London. A decade later, he moved to Lohombus Corporation Ltd, Malta’s only home loan company at the time, and was involved in the computerisation of the Lohombus home loan system. In 2000, Philip was appointed director and senior manager of HSBC Home Loans (Malta) Ltd which eventually merged into HSBCBank Malta plc.

“When HSBC arrived in Malta, every branch had a back office which was obviously not the most efficient way of operating,” he recalled. “One of my first challenges was to bring all back-office operations under one roof in Qormi. We achieved this in a relatively short time with far-reaching benefits: less bureaucracy and more quality time with customers at HSBC branches.”

As HSBC’s CTSO, Mr Farrugia had numerous responsibilities including information technology, service delivery, change delivery, physical security and information security risk, corporate real estate, and procurement.

He attributes perseverance, hard work, an openness to change, and a positive attitude to enjoying a successful career.

HSBC Bank Malta chief executive officer Mark Watkinson highlighted how Mr Farrugia had worked in virtually every department of the bank and left his clear mark as a consummate organiser and driver of the business.

Meanwhile, Ranjit Gokarn brings with him a well-diversified portfolio of international experiences within the HSBC Group.

He has been an HSBC executive for the past 20 years and has gained extensive experience working in India, Singapore, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and the UK.

He takes up his Malta role after serving as senior executive continental Europe in Paris, where he was responsible for eight countries.