Bank of Valletta was named Bank of the Year in Malta by The Banker, the Financial Times Group's monthly publication, at a ceremony at The Dorchester Hotel in London, last Wednesday. This is the third consecutive year and the fifth time in the last seven years that Bank of Valletta has won this prestigious award.
"We are delighted with such international recognition that underlines the increasing strength of the BoV brand and the most valid and innovative work that we have undertaken in terms of customer service innovation over the past year," BoV's CEO Tonio Depasquale said.
The 'Bracken Award' was presented to Mr Depasquale by Brian Caplen, editor of The Banker. Mr Depasquale was in London with BoV's chief finance officer Mario Mallia.
The prestigious Bracken award is named after Brendan Bracken, the founding editor of The Banker in 1926 and the chairman of the modern-day Financial Times from 1945 to 1958. Brendan Bracken epitomises the global spirit, vision and integrity of The Banker and the FT Group.
The Banker has been a trusted source of global financial intelligence since 1926 and the Bank of the Year Awards listing has become an international key indicator of financial performance. For the country assessments, the global editorial team of The Banker considers not only the latest results, growth and banking data but also technology and strategic developments. The award for a single bank in each country is for the best overall performance and qualitative achievements.
"2007 was yet another record year for BoV Group during which we registered our highest ever pre-tax profit - Lm43.7 million (€101.8 million), an increase of 14 per cent on last year's results," Mr Depasquale said.
"It was also a year during which the bank focused on taking full advantage of Malta's rapid development as a financial services centre".
BoV has developed a strong value proposition and has set up a specialised corporate and institutional clients desk to offer institutional clients, such as captives, direct access to financial markets - be it treasury services, risk management solutions, liquidity management products, investment management services, and securities trading / custody.
Valletta Fund Services, a fully owned subsidiary, has also been established to consolidate BoV Group's capabilities to service the full spectrum of professional and investment funds, a fast growing business in Malta.
Mr Depasquale explained that a multi-faceted programme of change within the credit sector has resulted in a complete overhaul of the credit application, approval and risk assessment processes with non-performing loan ratio continuing to improve to 4.8 per cent. BoV has continued to focus on seeking opportunities to grow the loan book with good quality new business.