Bank of Valletta has announced it will be committing Lm425,000 to its Community Programme in 2008. This will effectively see BOV investing back in the community in which it operates the sum of Lm1 million over a period of three years.

“We are pleased to announce the largest single Community Programme ever to be implemented by Bank of Valletta,” said chairman Roderick Chalmers, who went on to explain that the size of BOV’s Community Programme is directly related to the profits earned by the bank. “The good performance registered by BOV over the past two years is being reflected in this record commitment by BOV to worthy community initiatives,” he added.

This financial commitment forms an integral part of the bank's Corporate Social Responsibility programme. “We are effectively giving back to the community over one per cent of our pre-tax profits in the form of direct support for a diverse number of initiatives under seven pillars of activity,” Mr Chalmers explained.

The seven pillars of activity around which the bank’s Community Programme is built are the arts and culture, heritage, the environment, education, the social aspect, sport and support for business and professional associations.

Areas supported by the bank include encouragement for Maltese artists to develop their talent and promote their works, and heritage-related restoration and embellishment projects.

Afforestation and other environmental initiatives also feature high on BOV’s agenda, together with various initiatives that promote educational development.

The bank has a very strong social pillar that offers direct assistance to philanthropic organisations in the implementation of various worthy projects. BOV is also synonymous with Maltese sport and is active in supporting business and

professional associations.