Bank of Valletta yesterday made a new, limited-offer, 18-month term deposit paying a gross interest rate of 4.45% per annum.

The new term deposit account can be opened with a minimum deposit of Lm2,000 and multiples of Lm100 thereafter. Interest is payable every six months. There are no fees for opening the account. This is a limited offer that is available until 12 July but which may be closed earlier, at the bank’s discretion.

Tonio Depasquale, Chief Executive Officer at Bank of Valletta said that those still keeping amounts of cash should take advantage of this unique deposit opportunity, depositing their cash into a bank account, thus planning for euro conversion. “Besides offering added value to our customers, this account also provides an ideal vehicle for those who would like to deposit their excess cash holdings into a deposit account before Malta’s adoption of the euro as its national currency,” explained Mr Depasquale.

“We continue to invite our customers to deposit their funds with us, ensuring the automatic conversion of their Maltese lira to euro upon euro-day while guaranteeing and fixing an attractive interest rate since the rate of 4.45% per annum is applicable for the duration of the 18-month term, hence it also remains applicable after Malta joins the eurozone”, said Mr Depasquale.

As with all other bank deposits, all deposit accounts opened under this limited offer will be automatically converted into euro on 1 January 2008 at the Lm/euro irrevocable fixed convergence rate.

Full details and terms and conditions may be obtained from any Bank of Valletta branch, by logging on to bov.com or by calling the BOV Customer Service Centre on tel.: 2131-2020.