As a shareholder in Bank of Valletta plc, what worries me is not so much the bank's drop in profits by €61.2 million but that this drop is worse than that in its earnings (€54 million). Meaning that, even if the same level of earnings had been maintained, there would still have been a profits reduction of over €7 million, reflecting an unusual business syndrome of continuing cost increases as revenue declines.

Until some months ago I was proud to be both a client and a shareholder of BOV: I even had it on record that the government's 25 per cent holding should only be sold to local investors. But now...