Former BOV manager Ray Ellul to lead passport posterity fund

Experienced banker Ray Ellul has been appointed as the first chief executive of a posterity fund that will receive 70% of the funds payable to the Individual Investor Programme, the scheme set up by Muscat’s administration for the sale of Maltese citizenship.

Ellul joins the National Development and Social Fund (NDSF) after a career of 36 years with Bank of Valletta, where he held a number of senior management positions, most recently being those of Head of Investment Strategy and Foreign Bank Relationships and Head of Compliance, Advisory and Regulatory Services. He is also a visiting senior lecturer at the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy at the University of Malta.

He was appointed after a public call of interest, and he commenced his new job on  1 March. In a statement, the NDSF said that Ellul will report to the board of governors and be responsible for the direction and co-ordination of the everyday operations and financial affairs of the fund.

Malta sells passports to so called ‘high net worth individuals’ for the price of €650,000, apart from making a €350,000 property acquisition and €115,000 financial investment binding on prospective buyers. All IIP applicants must have been residents in Malta for 12 months prior to acquiring their passport.

The NDSF is a posterity fund that will receive 70% of the €650,000 application fees - since the IIP is capped at a maximum of 1,800 applicants, the government is foreseeing a minimum contribution to this fund of €819 million over the years. The funds received shall be used "in the public interest" for education, research, innovation, social purposes, justice and the rule of law, employment, the environment and public health.