Executive Management

Margrith Lütschg-Emmenegger has worked in Trade Finance with a special focus on Forfaiting and Factoring for most of her professional life. First with Barclays Bank, then with Midland Bank Aval in London before joining West Merchant Bank (now WestLB AG), where she had global responsibility for Forfaiting / Factoring within WestLB AG. Margrith joined FIMBank in April 2003 as Executive Vice President and was appointed President on 1 September 2004. She played an important role in the acquisition by FIMBank of London Forfaiting Company (LFC), a leading Forfaiting house with its head office in London.

Mrs. Lütschg-Emmenegger was educated in Switzerland, became a member of the Board of the Swiss Association of Forfaiters in 1983, and also founding Chairman of the Association of Forfaiters in the Americas in 1995. In 1999, Mrs. Lütschg-Emmenegger co-founded the International Forfaiting Association where she served as Deputy Chairman until September 2003.

She has written numerous articles on Forfaiting including a book published in 1998 by Euromoney, titled "A Guide to Forfaiting". She has also been a regular speaker on the subject for many years travelling around the world teaching audiences the benefits of Forfaiting and Factoring.

Dr. Armin Eckermann joined FIMBank in November 2008 to head the Banking Group of FIMBank. In this function he is leading a team of international and local experts servicing Corporate Clients and Institutional & Financial Clients covering all  core banking activities of the FIMBank Group.

Armin has been in banking for over 20 years. The vast majority of his professional life was spent in Corporate & Investment Banking, where he has led globally acting teams in the wider area of Structured Commodity Finance, Commodity Trade Finance as well as Trade Finance & Services.

Before moving to FIMBank, he worked for Standard Bank and WestLB. At Standard Bank London, he headed the Resource Banking Finance area overlooking all structured lending products in the fields of Mining & Metals, Energy Finance, as well as Structured Commodity Finance. At the beginning of 2007, he took charge of the newly formed Global Product Unit Structured Trade Finance & Services Department covering also the African continent.

Prior to Standard Bank, he had worked for WestLB AG in Dusseldorf, Germany. For almost six years until the end of 2005, he was the Global Head of Commodity Finance, heading the Structured as well as the Classical Commodity Trade Finance business. Before the year 2000, Armin spent considerable time for the bank in South America, establishing commodity business in Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo. He also developed the commodity business hub in Singapore and was responsible for acquisition and structuring of commodity-related financial transactions in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Armin holds a Ph.D. and a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. He has further established his reputation through speaking and teaching engagements at conferences and universities. Furthermore, he has published various articles in the wider field of commodity finance and trading.

Marcel Cassar is First Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of FIMBank plc and is responsible for accounting and financial reporting, risk management and legal departments. He is also the Company Secretary and sits on the Group’s Executive Committee, Risk Committees, Assets-Liabilities Committee and Regulatory Controls Committee.

Marcel is a certified public accountant, a fellow of the Malta Institute of Accountants and holds an MBA from the University of Wales, Bangor and Manchester Business School. He practised in the profession with Price Waterhouse in Malta and Italy and held executive positions with the Malta International Business Authority and the Malta Financial Services Centre. Between 1996 and 2004 he held the position of General Manager with Lombard Bank Malta plc, where his responsibilities included accounting and financial reporting, treasury, international business and investment services, IT, human resources and strategic planning. He sat on the bank’s Credit Committee and Assets-Liabilities Committee and was a director of Lombard Stockbrokers Limited and Lombard Asset Managers Limited.

Throughout his career, Marcel has been serving on committees and working groups active in the development of Malta’s international financial services industry, including committees of the Malta Institute of Accountants, the Accountancy Board and the Malta Bankers’ Association. He sits on the Brussels-based Banking Supervision Committee of the European Banking Federation. He is a lecturer and examiner in the M.A. (Financial Services) programme within the Faculty of Laws, and an examiner in the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy -- both at the University of Malta. Marcel is also a Council Member of The Strickland Foundation, which owns and administers Allied Newspapers (Malta) Limited and Progress Press Limited. He has made academic contributions in the areas of bank financial management, banking policy and regulation as well as at conferences, both in Malta and overseas.

Silvio joined FIMBank as Head of IT in April 1998 and now carries ultimate responsibility for the Group's IT and Administration departments covering all IT systems, Communications, Messaging, SWIFT, Insurances, premises administration, procurement and security. During his career with FIMBank he was also transiently responsible for several varied areas ranging from HR to Finance and Operations.

A versatile professional with 15 years banking experience and over 13 years experience in IT Business Analysis and Project Management, Silvio has held several positions with Bank of Valletta p.l.c. (BOV) and headed the foreign department of the Bank of Valletta International Limited, which was responsible for the group's off-shore business. He played an integral role during BOV's computerization process.

Silvio, an Honours graduate of the University of Malta in Business Management, is also the founding Director of two fully owned FIMBank subsidiaries, namely FIM Business Solutions Ltd, which is the IT Company entrusted with the group's IT responsibilities and also FIM Property Investment Ltd, whose main objective is the management of the group's Head Office in Malta.

Renald joined FIMBank in April 1998 as Head of the Trade Services Department and thereafter as Head of Operations. In 2004 Renald was relocated to the Business Development Unit in order to create a team of trade specialists who would be responsible for the full Corporate portfolio of the Bank. This involved origination of deals as well as related structuring of trade. The products, commodities and markets handled by Renald and his team were various and this position within FIMBank enabled him to develop structured trade products and work closely with customers from different backgrounds/cultures.
 
Renald's present position is that of Head of Product Sales, a department within the Banking Group. Together with his team, Renald is responsible for structuring trade products in order to offer trade solutions to Corporates and Banks. Renald is also responsible for another department within Product Sales - Transaction Management and Control.
 
Renald completed his ACIB diploma in 1994 and his BSc (Hons) in Financial Services from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in 2000. Renald is an Associate of the Institute of Financial Services UK (previously the Chartered Institute of Bankers) and also an active committee member of the Malta Local Centre of the Institute of Financial Services, with the objective of promoting education in the local financial services industry. Renald is a documentary credit specialist certified by the International Chamber of Commerce and a regular speaker on topics related to international trade. He has spoken in various conferences both locally and abroad.

The Chief Risk Officer is accountable for enabling the efficient and effective governance of significant risks and related opportunities. Ivan Fsadni is responsible for the Group’s risk control function and monitoring of the risk management framework across the entire organization.

Ivan has over thirty years experience in banking. Before his move as Chief Risk Officer in March 2013, Ivan was FIMBank Group Head Internal Audit for 12 years. He holds an honours degree in Accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) as per laws of Malta. He is also a Fellow of the Malta Institute of Accountants (MIA), Member of the Malta Institute of Management (MIM) and Certified Information System Auditor (CISA).