Board of Directors

Mr. Harald Wanke, Chairman & Non-Executive Director

Mr. Wanke was born and resides in Austria. He graduated in economics after which he joined the bank of Sparkasse Schwaz AG as a senior manager within the marketing department. He was then appointed member of the managing board, a post he retained until 1988. Prior to his election as Chairman on the board of Sparkasse Schwaz AG he held the post of Assistant Chairman for a number of years. In 2000 Sparkasse Bank Malta plc started its operation and Mr. Wanke has been chairman on the local board ever since.

During this time he widened his experience in numerous other functions such as: manager and later chairman of the board of various investment funds in Luxembourg, member of the Supervisory Board of S Bausparkasse and S-Insurance, President of Landesverband TuV, member of the Board of the Austrian Savings Banks Association, President of the Regional Savings Banks in Austria, Spokesman of Banks and Insurances in Tirol.

Mr. Paul Mifsud, Managing Director

Attended Downside School, a Benedictine school in Bath (UK). Gained his experience in finance through his education at the Centre International De Glion, in Switzerland where he graduated in Management and Finance. He furthered his education in securities from the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment in London and went on to achieve a Chartered Banker MBA from Bangor University. Joined Sparkasse Bank Malta plc in 2006 as Managing Director after the Bank had acquired a majority stake in Quest Investment Services - a company he was a senior partner in, performing investment advisory services.

Mr. Mifsud is responsible for the implementation of company strategy and overall management of the Bank’s business. He was instrumental in developing the Bank’s business and presence in Malta developing the investment services / wealth management division at the Bank as well as steering the Bank to becoming a major player in fund custody in Malta. His areas of expertise are securities related, including trading, settlements, advisory, custody and Fund depositary services (AIFs and UCITs).

Mr. Serge D'Orazio, Non-Executive Director

Mr D’Orazio was born and resides in Luxembourg. He graduated in economics at Panthéon Sorbonne in Paris after which he joined KBL European Private Bankers in Luxembourg, working within the securities, depositary and fund business.

Between 1997 and 2015, he successively held positions of Head of Relationship Management of Institutional Clients and Head of Investment Funds & Global Custody Services. From January 2015 to December 2017, he was General Manager of Institutional & Professional Services (Luxembourg), reporting directly to the executive committee.

From 2007 to 2018, Mr D’Orazio also sat on the Board of Directors of EFA (European Fund Administration), a leading service provider of central administration and transfer agent services in Luxembourg. Mr. D’Orazio was formerly a member of various working groups and committees within the Luxembourg financial centre (ALFI, ABBL) and the coordinator of ALFI’s Conferences Advisory Committee.
Between 2010 and 2017, Mr D’Orazio was a visiting professor at HEC-ULG (Université de Liège), Belgium – Investment Fund Industry Chair.

Mr. James Bonello, Non-Executive Director

Mr. Bonello started his banking career with Barclays Bank D.C.O. in 1965. He held various senior management positions within Mid-Med Bank Ltd, which took over the business of Barclays Bank in Malta in 1975. Between 1989 and 1993, he was seconded by the bank to the Malta International Business Authority (now the Malta Financial Services Authority) where he served as Chief Executive. He was then seconded to Mid-Med Bank (Overseas) Ltd, Mid-Med Bank Ltd’s offshore banking subsidiary, and was appointed General Manager in 1996. In 1998, he was appointed General Manager Operations within the parent bank, with responsibility for Credit and Finance.

Upon HSBC’s acquisition of Mid-Med Bank in 1999, Mr. Bonello was appointed Head of Commercial Banking within HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c. He was also appointed Executive Director on the bank’s Board in 2002. In 2004, he resigned from the bank and took over as Secretary General of the Malta Bankers’ Association, which position he held until his retirement in 2018.

Mr. Bonello is a Fellow of the Institute of Financial Services, Malta, and served for ten years on the Institute’s Council, the last two years as President.

Mr. Mark Curmi, Non-Executive Director

Mr. Curmi is an experienced banking, risk and regulatory advisory services professional, holding in excess of eighteen years of experience in the Banking, Payment Services and FinTech/PayTech sectors, locally and internationally.

Mr. Curmi is a former Director at KPMG Malta, responsible for the firm’s Banking and Fintech Regulatory Advisory services arm of the Malta practice. He was one of the firm’s first cross-functional Financial Services industry specialists responsible for commercials, business development and regulatory compliance mandates. His portfolio of clients included Significant and Less-Significant (incl. high-priority) Credit Institutions as well as the large payment services players operating in Malta.

Amongst other key roles, Mr. Curmi sat on the KPMG ECB Office Team (Frankfurt) and the KPMG Global DLT Working Group. He also co-led the firm’s EmTech and FinTech regulatory teams. Prior to joining KPMG, Mr. Curmi spent nine years in the Commercial and Corporate Banking Units for global Significant Credit Institution HSBC.

Mr. Curmi holds the post of Chief Risk Officer at an international financial technology firm and holds a number of advisory roles to Corporates and MMEs operating in Malta. Mr. Curmi is a Member of the Institute of Financial Services Practitioners, is a Board Member of the Financial Institution Malta Association, and is a Member of the Malta Chamber of Commerce and the Malta Chamber of SMEs.

Mr Hilary Galea-Lauri, Non-Executive Director

As a former Senior Audit Partner and Head of Audit at KPMG, Mr Hilary Galea-Lauri specialised in the audits of banks, insurance and treasury companies operating both locally and overseas. Within the KPMG network, Mr Galea-Lauri sat on the Audit Executive Committee and Audit Quality Council of the KPMG Islands Group (KIG), a sub-region within EMA. Along with being the firm’s lead technical partner on the KPMG Audit Methodology, he headed the team implementing audit quality initiatives, and carried out audit quality performance reviews across the KPMG network of which he was also responsible as one of its IFRS Liaison Partners.

Forming part of the Council of the Malta Institute of Accountants for almost two decades, Mr Galea-Lauri also chaired its Accounting and Auditing Technical Committees, while contributing to the work of the Accounting Working Party of the Fédération des Experts Comptables Européens (now Accountancy Europe, based in Brussels) which focuses on IASB-related work. Aside from being an active member of the Institute’s Ethics Committee, Mr Galea-Lauri is a court expert in the field of accounting. Sharing his extensive knowledge in his field, Mr Galea-Lauri lectured Advanced Financial Accounting and was a lead examiner for 10 years. Mr Galea-Lauri is a Non-executive Director and chairs a number of Audit Committees of financial institutions.

Mr Mario Micheli, Non-Executive Director

Mr Micheli was born and resides in Austria. Moving to Vienna he graduated in business administration with a focus on accounting and finance at Vienna University of Economics and Business. He joined an Austrian leading bank auditing firm, where he has gained valuable knowledge and experience through his leadership and involvements in bank audits for multiple Austrian Saving Banks (Erste Group Bank AG and Sparkassen) and private foundations. In his additional role as a specialist in banking supervision laws and regulatory affairs, Mr Micheli executed several regulatory projects for Sparkassen-Group, along with the coordination of regulatory matters with Erste Group Bank AG as leading institute bank for Sparkassen-Group.

Mr Micheli is the managing partner and owner of MM LagoAchen Vienna Holding GmbH. In addition to these responsibilities, he manages a tourism business enterprise.