Bank of Valletta, in collaboration with the Parliamentary Secretariat for Small Business and the Self-Employed, yesterday launched a series of evening seminars addressed at small businesses and self-employed persons.

The aim of these evening meetings, with the theme Miftuha Ghan-Negozju (Open for Business), is to provide the business community with information on various topical business issues and opportunities, together with information on various products and services which the bank offers to the business community.

The initiative was launched during a press conference which was addressed by John Soler, chief officer – credit on behalf of Bank of Valletta, and Edwin Vassallo, Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and the Self-Employed.

Mr Soler said: “We have teamed up with the Parliamentary Secretariat for Small Business and the Self-Employed in order to provide the local business community with a wide range of information which is relevant to the sector. The topics that will be addressed during the series of seminars that we are organising will range from the euro changeover and the aspects related to the adoption of the new currency that will have an impact on the operations of small businesses, to issues on waste and the environment, wealth management, licensing issues, trade finance, intellectual property, credit cards issues and e-commerce, among others.”

Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo said that “today small business owners and the self-employed have a myriad of financial products and services to choose from. These banking products are aimed to ensure the success of their commercial activity. However, there is a number of business owners who are still not aware of the banking services which are available to them and, in this regard, banks have to keep on taking initiatives so as to be even more accessible to support businesses to grow and be successful in what they do.”

The evening meetings will start on Monday and last between 7pm and 9pm. The chosen localities include Attard, Naxxar, Fgura, Qormi, San Gwann and Zebbug. Further details may be obtained by calling Bank of Valletta’s Customer Service Centre on tel.: 2131-2020.