Finco Treasury Management, the firm spearheading claims by investors in the La Valette Multi-Manager Property Fund, yesterday noted it was positive Bank of Valletta had stated it would face up to and accept its responsibilities if its decisions and actions are found to have been wanting.

In a statement issued in the afternoon following Bank of Valletta’s presentation of its 2010 financial results, Finco said however the questions that had been raised by investors on the level and timing of redemptions in the property fund would be best addressed if BoV were forthcoming and transparent in its response.

Finco had, much earlier than the first judicial protest, requested the fund to provide statistical information, month by month for withdrawals from the fund, to explain the €16 million withdrawals, and to specify the level of redemptions by related parties.

Finco did not want any party to be identified, except that the accounts themselves indicated that there was a fund director who withdrew his investment.

Finco noted the bank’s attempts to attribute the high level of withdrawals to market forces and volatility prevalent at the time was not in sync with what the bank chairman was reported to have said in launching the La Valette Property Fund that “such an asset class is often considered as being less volatile than equities and bonds. In fact, real estate property does not necessarily react to economic or market conditions in the same way as do equities and bonds.”

Finco pointed out that going by what the chairman had said, one would be led to logically presume that in a downward market crisis, there would not be the same high level of redemptions in the La Valette Property Fund as in funds investing in foreign bond and equity markets of the same La Valette SICAV.

Going by what is reported in the La Valette Sicav’s financial statements for the same year, all other bond and equity funds investing in foreign securities had a level of redemptions which is much less than the level of redemptions in the La Valette Multi Manager Property Fund.

Finco rebutted BoV’s insinuation there has been an unprofessional approach by some complainants, saying it was proud to have been entrusted by hundreds of aggrieved investors to take up the cause of investor protection.

“Finco and all aggrieved investors look forward to an early conclusion by the MFSA of the various lines of enquiry, not least, the breaches of the borrowing restrictions in the prospectus of the fund, breaches of the fund licence, and the question of what breaches of trust may have been committed in relation to the redemption of funds as well as other grievances,” the company said.