The Malta Stock Exchange recently hosted a governance, risk, compliance (GRC) and ESG Week that culminated in a two-day conference at Hilton Malta.
Twenty-six foreign speakers from across the globe and over 30 local speakers participated in a varied programme across the two days, including keynote addresses, fireside chats, moderated sessions and breakouts.
In his welcoming address, MSE chairman Joseph Portelli said: “Imagine a world where your company crushes it, while simultaneously doing its share to save the planet and being a champion for social good. Well, that’s the power of GRC and ESG working together in harmony.
“This is the backdrop to our motivation for organising this conference. We have an opportunity at this summit to spread the word that Malta takes GRC and ESG seriously enough; that the local stock exchange organises a lavish annual summit.”
This, he added, shows that effective GRC is alive and well in Malta. He pointed out that since 2015 the number of listings on the MSE had increased by almost 90 per cent – this as listings around the world were decreasing.
“I believe we need to rethink the ethos that more bureaucracy makes better governance and we must remain vigilant against a tendency to get pedantic and to allow bureaucracy, excessive paperwork and red tape to permeate corporate and regulatory mindsets,” Portelli said, concluding by thanking all those who contributed to the event, including its 26 sponsors.
Six keynote speakers addressed the conference over the two days: Finance Minister Clyde Caruana; Minister for the Environment, Energy and the Regeneration of Grand Harbour Miriam Dalli; PwC UK partner Sandeep Agrawal; Citigroup chief administrative officer, global head of risk & controls, Ruth Bailey; K&L Gates partner Michael E. Ruck; and Nick Tsilas, Microsoft’s legal and government affairs lead for southeast Europe, covering 14 countries including Malta.
The programme also alternated moderated sessions with fireside chats, apart from two groups of breakout sessions enabling participants to attend sessions that were of interest to them.
The topics of the moderated sessions were: ESG metrics transparency and reporting; AI and GRC, the intersection of technology and regulation; the future of regulatory compliance; the role of risk culture in effective enterprise risk management; attributes of an effective board of directors; protecting your organisation from fraud and corruption; building a cyber security culture – strategies for embedding security in an organisational culture; and AML risk assessment – identifying and mitigating money laundering risks.
Fireside chats were held with Summer K. Mersinger, commissioner, United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission; Martin Moloney, secretary general, International Organisation of Securities Commissions; Nandini Sukumar, CEO, World Federation of Exchanges; Paul Manduca, chairman, St James’s Place; Ivan Filletti, CEO, GamingMalta; Joseph Attard, director of international compliance, Entain; Rodrigo Buenaventura, chairman, Spanish National Securities Market Commission; Hong Fang, president, OKX; and Anthony Miller from the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, United Nations.
Finally, the topics of the eight breakout sessions over the two days were: implementing an ESG strategy within your company; risk management: the essential guide to protecting your business; AML compliance and trends in the digital age; implementing DORA to mitigate ICT risk; managing GDPR and regulatory compliance; the future of gaming: trends, regulation and technology; the human factor in GRC: labour relations, culture and ethics; and the progress and challenges of the Capital Markets Union.
The summit was complemented with a number of social events and participants were eligible to CPE credits for their attendance.