The Bank of Valletta is rejecting claims made against it in an Italian court requesting it to pay €363 million.

In a statement on the Malta Stock Exchange, the bank said the plaintiffs were alleging the sum was equivalent to the value of the shares of a company which had been settled on trust with the bank as trustee in 2009.

The bank said that an in-depth analysis of the claim, the documents presented by the plaintiffs to date and the documents held by the bank, was carried out and it was legally advised there was no basis at law for the claim, which it should reject as completely unfounded.

On the basis of this, the board of directors resolved to reject the claims made against it and has decided there was no justifiable reason for it to make any provisions against the claim.

The bank said it board would carefully monitor these proceedings and would keep the market informed in the event of any significant development.