There are over 80 vacancies at the Malta Financial Services Authority, which when seen in the context of a workforce of 320 shows how under-resourced it is, the new CEO of the authority Joe Cuschieri told Times Talk.

And the workforce is expected to grow over the coming three years to address current resource shortfalls as well as to cater for future growth, resulting in 180 vacancies, he said.

The time might have come to recruit foreigners, he suggested, adding that the remuneration packages had to compete with those being offered by the gaming and financial services sectors.

In 2016, according to the MFSA annual report, there were 53 people hired – but 35 resigned.

He also lamented that the technology at the authority, to which he moved from the Malta Gaming Authority just a few weeks ago, needed considerable investment.

Mr Cushieri insisted, however, that in spite of this, the authority was doing its work and the fact that action had been taken on so many issues showed that the “supervisory system was working”.

Asked about the impact of negative sentiment in the European Parliament and international media on the Maltese jurisdiction and whether it had had an impact on new applications, Mr Cushieri insisted that this did not reflect the reality on the ground.

“The fact that action was taken against [licence-holders] means that the supervisory system is working,” he said. “I can say that the management and staff do their work diligently. One may criticise them for perhaps taking longer than one might wish or expect. But I have seen – even in the case of Pilatus – that due process has taken place. Is there room for improvement? Of course there is. One of my roles is to strengthen our supervisory mechanism.”

Times Talk may be seen as from Wednesday on www.timesofmalta.com