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Malta’s banking sector continued to maintain steady growth, with the combined balance sheet total of the Malta Bankers’ Association’s 27 member banks standing at € 51.2 billion at the end of 2014. This was up from €49.2 billion in 2013.
Total assets of the seven core domestic banks, which have strong links with the domestic economy, amounted to €19.1 billion (239 per cent of GDP). Non-core domestic banks, which play a more restricted and limited role in the economy, had assets totalling €2.1 billion (27 per cent of GDP), while total assets of the international banks, which have virtually no link with the domestic economy, amounted to €30 billion (377 per cent of GDP).
Total assets of the core and non-core domestic banks, at 266 per cent of GDP, are well below the EU average of around 400 per cent of GDP. In 2014, loans and advances to customers by the core domestic banks rose nine per cent to €9.6 billion, while aggregate lending by all the banks amounted to €15 billion.
Customers’ deposits with the core domestic banks also increased by 14 per cent to €15.3 billion, reflecting public trust and confidence in the system, with total deposits of all the banks now exceeding the €22 billion mark.
The Central Bank of Malta also released its Financial Stability Report for 2014, which noted that profitability ratios of the core domestic banks still exceed those of similarly-sized banks in the eurozone. Their capital adequacy ratios and Tier One capital also remained strong at 14.1 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively.
The non-performing loan ratio is also tapering off after peaking in June 2014, reaching 9.3 per cent by the end of the year.