Leadership

Michael Adrian Bussey

Joined MeDirect’s Board on 24 February 2017.

35+ years of experience in banking, specialising in Private banking and Wealth management.

Former key positions held:
- Joined HSBC in 1980 and held various senior positions in his more than 20 years with the company, most recently as CEO of HSBC Private Banking EMEA
- CEO at Schroder & Co Ltd
- CEO of Private Banking and Trust at NM Rothschild & Sons Ltd
- CEO of Arbuthnot Latham & Co.

John Zarb

Joined MeDirect’s Board on 17 July 2017 and is the Chairman of the Audit Committee.

40 years of experience with PwC in Malta, retiring from his role as Partner in 2014.

Formerly President of Malta Institute of Accountants and served as Malta’s representative on the EU Accounting Regulatory Committee and on the Accountancy Board for several years.

Dina Quraishi

Joined MeDirect's board on 6 July 2023.

20+ years of experience in risk management covering various sectors including payments, FinTech, engineering and financial services.

Formerly served as Chief Risk Officer – SWIFT, Global Head of Enterprise Risk Management – Sandvik and Head of Operational Risk – Zurich Insurance

Philip C. English

Joined MeDirect's board on 22 August 2023.

30+ years of experience focusing on portfolio management, security valuation, financial markets and institutions and commercial banking.

Formerly served on the Board of Directors of the CFA Society Washington, DC and served on the Investment Management Committee for Raffa Wealth Management.

Research Associate Professor of Finance at the Fox School of Business, Temple University and Executive Director of the Fischer-Shain Centre for Financial Services and executive member of its Board.

Arnaud Denis

Joined MeDirect as Group CEO in September 2019 and formally on MeDirect’s Board on 15 October 2019.

25+ years of experience in banking, with track record of retail business transformation in the field of digital.

Former key positions held:
- First Deputy CEO of ROSBANK Group, Société Générale’s Russian retail platform
- CEO of Eurobank SA, Polish subsidiary of Société Générale
- MD in Société Générale’s Fixed Income division based in New York

Lisa Fergus

Joined MeDirect’s board on 2 November 2023.

30+ years of experience in risk management, regulatory compliance and internal audit.

Formerly served as Risk Officer at Ashman Finance and Chief Risk Officer at Monzo.

Izabela Banas

Izabela joined MeDirect on 3_^rd June 2024. She has 25 years experience in finance at large corporations and 17 years in financial services. She is a certified Lean Sigma Black Belt.

Previous positions include CFO of Bank of Valletta, CFO of HSBC Private Bank, EMEA, and various senior management roles in finance at Credit Suisse, Willis Towers Watson, and General Electric.

Chris Portelli

Chris Portelli has been working in the technology industry since 2002, specialising in the financial and iGaming sectors. Chris began his career with CSL Data Centre in Malta, and over the years he has worked with several international online gaming companies and financial institutions. His role was both of an advisor and technical lead, designing and implementing technical architectures together with supporting new business requirements and challenges. Chris was also actively involved in the iGaming start-up community working with several start-ups to assist them setting up their digital channels and integrations with various providers.

Pawel Malukiewicz

Pawel Malukiewicz has been working in the financial services industry for the last 16 years, for a number of banks including PKO BP, Euro Bank, Millennium Bank and Alior Bank. He also led international projects on behalf of Societe Generale Group. During his career, he gained broad managerial experience on customer experience, project management, data mining, CRM and channel setup. Pawel’s main focus is on building customer centricity across organisations. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Economics in Wroclaw, Poland.

Lorraine Bonello Ghio

Lorraine Bonello Ghio began her career with Mid-Med Bank in 1989. After receiving her basic training across a number of the Bank’s departments, Lorraine was appointed PA to the general manager of MIMBOL (Mid-Med’s offshore subsidiary), a position she held until 1996. Moving to a Legal and Financial Services practice, Lorraine developed her role as PA to the Managing Partner through assuming responsibility for the broader Administration and Human Resources functions. Attracted to the challenges of a start-up business, Lorraine joined MeDirect in its formative stage in 2006, primarily in the role of PA to the CEO, but with involvement across all the support functions of the bank. With the purchase and recapitalisation of the bank in 2009, she was appointed Head of Administration and Human Resources and was subsequently appointed as Chief Administrator Officer. Lorraine is CertCIB qualified and holds a diploma in Business Administration and Human Resources.

Caroline Grech

Caroline started her career in the Banking Industry at HSBC in 2007 where she gained extensive experience within Retail Banking and Wealth Management. In 2012, Caroline moved to MeDirect where she held various positions within her area of expertise but also took on new roles in the Compliance Department where she acquired experience within Regulatory Compliance. Caroline was appointed Head of Regulatory Compliance at MeDirect in 2021 and Chief Compliance Officer in March 2024. Caroline acts as the Compliance Officer in terms of the MFSA Investment Services Rules.

Henry C. Schmeltzer

Henry Schmeltzer founded and managed the European ABS and Illiquid Credit structuring and execution businesses at UBS, including development of the synthetic ABS and ABS derivatives businesses, non-recourse senior funding structures and asset origination strategies and structures. Before joining UBS, he ran credit structuring and origination businesses at Swiss Re London, Merrill Lynch London and Lehman Brothers London and New York. Prior to becoming a banker, Henry was an attorney in New York, leaving the law firm Brown & Wood as a partner. He holds an MBA (Finance) from the New York University, a JD from the University of Chicago and an AB (magna cum laude) from the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University. He was awarded CFA designation and is a member of the bar of the State of New York.

Job Mantz

Job Mantz joined MeDirect late 2021 as Head of Dutch Retail and is responsible for the Dutch retail business. He started his career at BinckBank in the Netherlands (currently: Saxo bank) where he held different positions within the legal, commercial and product departments. In 2014 he continued his career at Ziggo (currently: VodafoneZiggo) where he was responsible for their online customer service. The last six years Job worked at ABN AMRO Bank in different roles, primarily within their digital department. In 2018 he was responsible for setting up a new corporate venture for ABN AMRO and in his last role as head of the Digital Impact Team he was responsible for the customer adoption of their digital capabilities. Job holds a master’s in law (LLM) degree from Leiden University (NL) and a bachelor's degree in IT from the Fontys university of Applied Sciences Eindhoven (NL).

Herman Reznev

Herman started his career in the finance industry in 2006 after completing seven years in the diplomatic service and earning an MBA degree from the Wharton School. He spent the last 16 years in a variety of banking-related roles spanning leverage finance, debt advisory and M&A with London-based institutions, such as UBS, Credit Suisse and Bank of America. He joined MeDirect in early 2021 as a Senior Credit Analyst and in January 2022 was appointed Head of Corporate Credit where he leads the investment team managing the bank’s portfolio of European leveraged loans.

Wayne Crossley

Wayne has worked within the finance industry for the past 16 years, mainly in the capacity of a CPA accountant. He has worked within a number of international organisations, taking up different roles over the years as his career progressed. In the recent years, Wayne moved into general management and grew in this area by applying the best practices learnt over the years from various industries. Wayne obtained his qualification from ACCA back in 2015.

Cressida Galea

Joined MeDirect in 2018.

7+ years in banking, with extensive experience gained in the regulatory field, particularly regulatory affairs and regulatory horizon scanning.

Cressida holds a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Malta.

Chris Breemeersch

Chris Breemeersch started his career in 1995 as a Financial Auditor with KPMG Belgium focusing on insurance and banking institutions. In 1998 he joined the Internal Audit Division of KBC Group where he gained significant international experience as Internal Auditor, Operational Risk Officer and Project Manager before transferring to Dexia Group in 2004 and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (Belgian Branch) in 2013 in a succession of international executive management positions in Internal Audit. Between 2016 and 2019 Chris coordinated the operational project activities of a major Belgian consultancy firm for its financial services sector clients but eventually returned to the banking world as Head of Internal Audit for Puilaetco Belgium (a Quintet private bank). Chris joined MeDirect Group in July 2021 and was by the Regulatory Authorities confirmed as Group Chief Audit Executive in March 2022.

Alain Moreau

Alain Moreau served between 2009 and 2019 as Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank Belgium. Between 2012 and 2016, he was also Global Head of Investment Products and Insurances for Deutsche Bank Group. Prior to that he served as Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer for Deutsche Bank Belgium and as a Junior Lecturer in Business Administration for the University of Namur. Mr Moreau holds a Master of Engineering and a degree in Business Administration from UCLouvain (Belgium).

Marija Fenech

Over 11 years banking experience with various senior risk positions within MeDirect Group gaining extensive knowledge in risk management. Marija has a Bachelors degree from the University of Malta and is a qualified Professional Risk Manager (PRM).

Jean-Claude Maher

Jean-Claude Maher has more than 29 years of experience in Banking. He joined Deutsche Bank AG in 1994 where he held various roles in Research, Corporate Banking, Transaction Banking, Private Banking and Country Management. Throughout his career he held managerial positions on country, regional and global levels. Since 2014 he served as Country Chief Operating Officer and Branch Manager of Deutsche Bank in Belgium. Jean-Claude holds a master’s degree in Economics and Political Sciences from the University of Cologne, Germany.