Bank of Valletta announced on Friday that it was the first Maltese bank to transact with the European Central Bank.

“The transaction, which amounted to €28 million, was effected by the bank’s Financial Markets and Investments Division on 3 January during one of the first ECB fine tuning operations made following Malta's adoption of the euro as our national currency,” said Charles Borg, Chief Officer responsible for Financial Markets and Investment at Bank of Valletta.

In its effort to steer liquidity towards more balanced conditions needed to align short-term interest rates with its main refinancing rate, the ECB conducted a quick tender operation on Friday in which it absorbed almost e200 billion at a fixed rate of four per cent.

Mr Borg said Bank of Valletta was proud to be the first Maltese bank to participate in the monetary operations of the European Central Bank. “Indeed, the fact that we were the first Maltese bank to participate in a transaction with the ECB confirms BOV’s leading position in our market,” he added.

“This important milestone marks the start of a new reality and the bank is going to continue being active on international markets and particularly in dealing with the ECB,” concluded Mr Borg.