Credit Europe Bank will soon start a process of expansion to tap North Africa from its base in Malta within the next 12 months, The Malta Business Weekly reported this week.
Credit Europe Bank Malta started operations 18 months ago and reached a total asset size of €1.2 billion by the end of 2008.
In an exclusive interview with our sister business newspaper, Credit Europe Bank chief executive officer, Turhan Cemal Beriker, explained that the bank does not have plans to physically expand in Malta with more branches but is after geographical expansion in the region.
“We plan to expand in Malta based on our expertise in trade and commodity finance. The plan is to expand in two phases. The first phase will focus on expanding our trade finance activity and we intend to increase our operation by 25 per cent year-on-year. Also, we intend to cover the North African coast from our base in Malta and tap into structured trade and commodity finance through our corporate banking unit.”
Credit Europe Bank plans to start its mission in North Africa soon and it is envisaged that the process will be completed by the end of next year. “Malta is the ideal location for this project. Besides, the level of expertise when it comes to trade finance is excellent among the human resources on the island. Our local employees possess exceptional talent and we intend to augment this further with personnel from The Netherlands to set up the operation.
“The second part of the plan is to enter marine finance, which is relatively important for us. Malta is a very important hub for marine-related activity and we intend to finance marine trade and vessels since Malta is a target rich environment for that. Related to this field, our corporate banking team, supported by our corporate bankers in Amsterdam, have already managed to create a credit portfolio of e1.2 billion in Malta.”
Founded in 1994 in Amsterdam, Credit Europe Bank today is ranked among the top 10 Dutch banks. During 2008, the bank increased its net profit by 25 per cent to €74.5 million and had a total asset value of €9.5 billion.
Asked about the bank’s experience in Malta, Mr Beriker said that the banking system in Malta is very conservative and old fashioned. “This is something we did not yield to and as a consequence we were given the cold shoulder by the other market players, the banks which were established on the islands before us. The competition did not like our products and did not accept our refreshing attitude. We did not allow this to affect our strategy at all since we are in a free market economy.”