Bank of Valletta has won the ‘Best Bank in Malta 2011’, awarded by Global Finance, the international magazine of high repute.

Joseph D Giarraputo, president and publisher of Global Finance presented the Best Bank award to Emmanuel Ciappara, BOV’s Canada representative office manager who represented the bank during the presentation event held in Washington.

Global Finance editors, with input from industry experts, use a series of criteria to arrive at their selections of the best banks in the various countries. These include market share, number and size of deals, service and advice, structuring capabilities, distribution network, efforts to address market conditions, innovation, pricing, after-market performance of underwriting and market reputation.

Commenting on this prestigious award, Tonio Depasquale, Chief Executive Officer at Bank of Valletta said, “Bank of Valletta has continued to build up its capital and liquidity ratios while ensuring that conservative underwriting policies are maintained. The bank has not only weathered the crisis of the past few years well but has emerged as a stronger organisation. A testimony of this is the fact that we have successfully passed all stress tests by the Committee of European Bank Supervisors (CEBS). The bank has also launched a number of new products and services aimed at both the retail and corporate sectors.”

“The investment banking industry has changed as a result of the financial crisis,” said Mr Giarraputo. “The best institutions are those that have a business model focused on customer needs. More than ever, customers are demanding superior competence from their banking partners. These are the banks best providing that competence.”

The magazine has thousands of subscribers worldwide in over 158 countries, among which are numerous chairmen, presidents, CEOs and various financial officers who make investment and business decisions based on these results.