Malta

Bonello reappointed as governor of Maltese central bank

September 19, 2008 – Maltese president Edward Fenech-Adami has re-appointed Michael Bonello as governor of the Central Bank of Malta. Bonello was initially appointed governor on October 1, 1999. His new tenure will last five years from October 1.

Previous to his appointment as governor, Bonello was a senior official at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva. Between 1983 and 1999 he served in various capacities, among them as senior economic affairs officer in the international trade division, chief of the policy clearance unit, adviser in the office of the secretary-general and executive assistant to the deputy secretary-general.

Following the recent amendments to the Central Bank of Malta Act, the term of office of the governor and of the other members of the board of directors is five years and is renewable.Bonello has a degree in languages and economics from the University of Malta and an honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford, where he was as a Rhodes scholar. He is also a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. In 1969, he joined the Central Bank of Malta as a research assistant and later served as senior research officer from 1971 to 1978. He was also president of the Malta branch of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, now the Institute of Financial Services. In 1978, he left the bank to join the private sector, where he held senior management positions and sat on the Councils of the Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Industry until he joined UNCTAD in 1983.

Bonello is a member of the governing and general councils of the European Central Bank, a fellow of the Institute of Financial Services and a member of the board of governors of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).