Leo Brincat is new chair of Malta Development Bank

Leo Brincat is the new chair of the Malta Development Bank following his appointment by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana.

Brincat is a former banker by profession and until last year served as Malta’s member at the European Court of Auditors, a term that ended in September.

He takes over from former Central Bank governor and ex-Nationalist minister Josef Bonnici, who was MDB’s chair since its inception in 2017.

The bank is government-owned and offers financing facilities that support productive and viable operations where the market is unable or unwilling to accommodate such activities on its own in whole or part.

The MDB’s activities focus on complementing and supplementing the operations of market players in the provision of financing facilities, particularly to SMEs, infrastructure projects that contribute to national or regional development, and projects which are socially-oriented, energy efficient and environment friendly.

Leo Brincat was finance minister in the Labour administration of 1996-1998 and was appointed environment minister when Labour returned to government in 2013.

He was Malta’s choice for the European Court of Auditors, a post he took up in 2016.

The Finance Minister also appointed two new members on MDB’s board of directors, General Workers’ Union President Victor Carachi and Norbert Grixti, representing the private corporate sector.

They replace William Spiteri Bailey and economist Philip Von Brockdorff.

Carachi and Grixti join Rose Mary Azzopardi, Anthony Valco, Steve Ellul and Michele Cardinali on the board chaired by Leo Brincat.

In a statement the MDB expressed its gratitude to outgoing chairman Josef Bonnici, described as “instrumental in the setting up of the Bank and the growth it achieved in its first six years of its existence”.

The bank also welcomed the new appointments.