The Minister for Finance Prof. Edward Scicluna received a courtesy visit from His Excellency Ebrahim Obaid Al Zaabi, Director General of Insurance Authority in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday 28th January 2015.

During the meeting, Minister Scicluna and H.E. Obaid Al Zaabi had occasion to discuss various issues of mutual interest to the Maltese Government and the UAE Insurance Authority.

Minister Scicluna and H.E. Obaid Al Zaabi discussed Malta’s regulatory landscape, and the benefits of the recently-established Joint Financial Stability Board between the MFSA and the Central Bank, which enables the Government to keep constant oversight over the health of the banking sector.

Minister Scicluna also underlined the importance of ongoing education and training in financial services regulation, referring to the establishment of the Malta International Training Centre (MITC), which was intended to support the financial services industry through the provision of technical training.

The Minister also emphasized that Malta is currently receiving considerable attention and demand as an economically, financially, and politically stable country located very close to an unstable region. He underlined that as such, Malta is considered an exceedingly desirable location from which to operation in nearby countries which are not as stable.

Minister Scicluna also noted that despite being firmly in the European family, Malta was nevertheless looking beyond the EU for younger and emerging economic players to do business with, such as China.

Minister Scicluna and H.E. Obaid Al Zaabi augured further cooperation between their two countries, in the interest of mutual prosperity.

– Wednesday, 28th January, 2015