“We firmly believe that we can deepen our market by offering services to foreign institutions seeking to establish a presence in Malta – and we believe that we have the critical mass necessary to provide an effective service to international clients seeking to operate from Malta. We see this as an important growth area for Bank of Valletta.”

This was stated by Roderick Chalmers, chairman of Bank of Valletta when he addressed a conference on the theme, “Banking on Malta”, organised by the FT Business Events in association with the Malta Financial Services Authority at the London Stock Exchange last week. Bank of Valletta was a lead sponsor of this conference.

Mr Chalmers announced that BOV is in the process of completing a broad-based, externally focused strategic review of where opportunities lie, and how well or otherwise Malta can be positioned in terms of the wider financial services business.

This strategic review, which has been carried out with the help of Booz Allen Hamilton, the renowned strategy consultants, has sought to develop a comprehensive understanding of Malta’s and Bank of Valletta’s competitive advantage, together with the relative value propositions.

“BOV sees the vital need for Malta to establish a vibrant third leg to its economic platform – and we believe that a successful Financial Services Centre can constitute that third leg. It would also support the general economic direction that the country is taking in moving the economy up market to the higher added value sector. Indeed, as the main financial player in the Maltese economy, we see Malta’s wider national economic needs and aspirations and the potential opportunities for Bank of Valletta’s business coinciding and aligning themselves in the field of Financial Services. The question is whether we can develop this sector in such a way that it becomes a substantial contributor to the economy, with the desired trickle down effect. I firmly believe that we have got the skills and the right environment,”

Mr Chalmers said.

He added that Bank of Valletta is looking at servicing the banking needs of corporate captives. “In this regard, we have developed a specific package for corporate captive banking services. Indeed, all banking facilities required by captives are within our core expertise today. Competitive pricing, excellent international network for funds transfer and the BOV approach that is solution oriented to ensure fast set-up are also key elements that underpin our value proposition. In line with our brand promise, captives can be assured of a high quality, responsive, flexible and truly local service,” he said.

The chairman of Bank of Valletta also announced that BOV is exploring the possibility of setting up a fund administration company to offer its services to foreign funds.

Mr Chalmers ended his address saying that Malta is an attractive location not only because of cost-competitiveness but more so in terms of competitive value.