Former Central Bank deputy governor resigns from BOV director board

Alfred Mifsud has tendered his resignation as non-executive director of BOV • Mifsud was appointed to the board in 2020, two years after resigning as deputy governor of the Central Bank

Former Central Bank deputy governor Alfred Mifsud was appointed to the BOV board in 2020
Former Central Bank deputy governor Alfred Mifsud was appointed to the BOV board in 2020

Former Central Bank deputy governor Alfred Mifsud has tendered his resignation from his role as non-executive director of Bank of Valletta (BOV).

The bank said that there were no matters concerning Mifsud or his resignation that warranted any disclosure in terms of the Capital Markets Rules.

Mifsud was deputy governor at the Central Bank for two years between 2015 and 2017. He resigned after facing corruption allegations first published by assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The whistleblower behind the allegations was Mifsud’s former partner Anna Zelbst, who told Caruana Galizia that she witnessed Mifsud accepting cash bribes.

Last February, Mifsud won a libel case on the blog post published by Caruana Galizia, Magistrate Victor Axiak ruled that while Caruana Galizia's intentions were not wrong, the court could not ignore the fact that the allegations were false and that they caused damage that was not minimal to Mifsud.

Mfisud has always denied any wrongdoing.

Mfisud was chairman of Mid Med Bank but resigned after the Nationalist Party was re-elected into government in 1998, after which the bank was privatized and sold to HSBC.

Mifsud was also the owner of investment services firm Crystal Finance Investments, where former prime minister Joseph Muscat was employed for some time before becoming an MEP.

Mifsud has been involved in banking and finance for decades, having been an opponent of the HSBC takeover of Mid-Med Bank in 1999. His association with the Labour Party saw him chairing the party’s fund-raising committee between 1992 and 1995, and then chairing One Productions between 1999 and 2001.

Mifsud has held various directorships with companies such as AIB insurance, Eurojet, Middlesea Insurance, C. Fino 7 Sons, Amalgamated Investments plc, Bay Street Finance, Allcare Insurance, and as a consultant to the Tumas Group he spearheaded the $150 million Portomaso project in St Julian’s.

He was governor of the financial services regulator MFSA between 1992 and 1996, deputy chairman of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, a director of the Malta Development Corporation, MITTS, Maltacom plc.