It was essential for the reputation of Malta’s financial services industry that the sector as a whole was able to demonstrate full and effective compliance with all local and international obligations, HSBC Bank Malta CEO Andrew Beane warned.

He made the comment – without referring to any particular threat to Malta’s reputation, in the bank’s interim report for the first nine months of the year, which reports that profit before tax had declined compared with the same period in 2017.

The bank said revenue was lower than the same period in 2017 as a result of the persisting low interest rate environment, reduction in the corporate loan book and the full year effect of risk management actions undertaken in 2017.

Compared to December 2017, there was a reduction in the corporate loan book offset by mortgage lending. Since customer deposits increased marginally since December 2017, the bank’s liquidity position remained exceptionally strong.

The bank said that it had managed to reduce the number of corporate non-performing loans.

“For HSBC our risk management actions are now enabling increased focus on growth by investing in new and improved services for our customers,” the bank said.