Bank of Valletta and the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry have renewed their ties through an agreement that sees the two parties collaborating closely in promoting enterprise and growth.

Chamber president Frank Farrugia said that with Bank of Valletta’s assistance over the past years, the Chamber has carried out valuable work and launched initiatives, especially those aimed at supporting small businesses.

“Both organisations are, in fact, looking forward to strengthen their collaboration through the organisation of a series of conferences and information sessions on themes that give an value added service to Chamber members and concurrently to BOV clients,” Mr Farrugia said.

An value added service to Chamber members

This year’s conference will deal with corporate pensions schemes while the subject for next year’s has already been chosen as family business and business succession.

Kenneth Farrugia, BOV chief business development officer (investments), expressed the bank’s satisfaction that this long-term collaboration was being renewed.

“Over the years, the bank has always sought to remain close to the market, because we believe that this is the best way in which we can support these businesses and support them in broadening their horizons. We are eager to ensure that this collaboration will translate into additional benefits for the members of the Chamber, primarily through a number of initiatives such as financial education sessions, similar to ones already organised on trade finance, pensions, and very recently, online trading,” he said.

Mr Farrugia also said that the bank will be using its professional human resources to disseminate information on the key developments shaping banking and investment services business that are relevant to the members of the Chamber and equally extend its specialist knowledge on EU-related matters through its EU representative office in Brussels.

In virtue of this agreement, the Malta Chamber and Bank of Valletta will also later on this year be launching an online SME tool kit that will provide invaluable assistance to start-up and advanced start-up businesses operating in and from Malta.

This collaborative agreement, which goes back more than a decade, was signed by Mr Farrugia and deputy president David Xuereb on behalf of the Chamber, and by Mr Farrugia and Mark Scicluna Bartoli, the bank’s head of EU and institutional affairs for BOV.