Fitch Ratings yesterday affirmed the long-term credit rating of Bank of Valletta at BBB+ with a stable outlook.

The rating was based on the bank’s strength as a stand-alone institution and did not take account of any potential external support.

Fitch said the rating reflected BOV’s position as the largest bank in Malta, its robust customer funding base and liquidity. The agency also noted the bank’s good performance and sound capitalisation.

The rating comes two months after BOV got a clean bill of health from the European Central Bank after passing rigorous year-long tests.

The ECB tests, which also applied to HSBC, found BOV had enough high-quality capital to cover its risky assets under different economic scenarios. The tests were more onerous than previous exercises because the ECB, among others, examined in detail individual loan portfolios and reviewed securities.

BOV’s capital ratio stood at 13.2 per cent in the most likely economic scenario and 8.9 per cent in the adverse scenario.

It passed the test with a significant margin in both cases.