Bank of Valletta

Bank of Valletta plc

Type	Public Limited Company
Industry	Banking Financial services
Founded	1974 (1974)
Headquarters	BOV Centre, Cannon Road, Sta Venera SVR 9030, Malta
Area served	Maltese Islands
Key people	John Cassar White (Chairman) Mario Mallia (Chief Executive Officer)
Products	Retail banking Commercial banking
Net income	€64.45 mln (2014)
Total assets	€8.2 bln (2014)
Number of employees	1,483 (2014)
Subsidiaries	Valletta Fund Management
Website	www.bov.com

Bank of Valletta (BOV) is Maltese bank and financial services company with headquarters in Santa Venera. It is oldest established financial services provider in Malta and one of the largest. As of 2014 the bank had 44 branches, 6 regional business centres, a head office, and a wealth management arm located around the Maltese Islands. It has representative offices in Australia (in Victoria), Belgium (in Brussels), Libya (in Tripoli) and Italy (in Milan).

Customers have access to automated teller machines (ATMs) around Malta and Gozo. The BOV DRIVE-THROUGH ATM was installed in 2010, the first in the islands, enabling customers to transact banking services from their car.

Bank of Valletta, has issued Ixaris Systems Ltd with Ixaris MasterCards and Visa Cards after which in 2003, the founders of Ixaris Systems, Ltd, a creator and operator of transaction-based financial services, recognized the need for an easy electronic payment solution that would offer everyone the ability to pay online and offline regardless of their location or credit-worthiness and so EntroPay was introduced as a safe and convenient way to pay wherever VISA was accepted.

With the advent of British rule in Malta, a group of English and Maltese merchants established Anglo-Maltese Bank, which commenced operations on 23 June 1809. Banco di Malta was established on 1 May 1812. Anglo-Maltese Bank and Banco di Malta began early on to issue their own promissory banknotes (payable at sight) at first in Scudi denominations and subsequently in Sterling. The third bank to be set up in Malta was B. Tagliaferro e Figli, which too was founded in 1812. The fourth bank established in Malta was Josef Scicluna et Fils, set up in 1830. These four banks would eventually merge, in stages, to form what would be Bank of Valletta.

Anglo-Maltese Bank and Banco di Malta merged in January 1946 under the name National Bank of Malta. In 1949 Sciclunas Bank affiliated to the newly established bank. Twenty years after that, i.e., in 1969, National Bank of Malta acquired 90 percent of the shares of Tagliaferro Bank, the former B. Tagliaferro & Sons.

In 1973, following a run on the National Bank and its subsidiary Tagliaferro Bank, the Maltese government after Parliament passed the 'National and Tagliaferro Banks (Temporary Provision) Act 1973'. On 22 March 1974 the Prime Minister announced the setting up of the Bank of Valletta. The new Bank took over the assets and liabilities of the National Bank Group, and commenced operations on 25 March 1974. The Government, injected Lm3.3 million (equivalent to €7.7 million) into the new Bank in return for a 60 percent share of the capital. The Malta Development Corporation took up the remaining 40 percent, and in time sold 20 percent to the Banco di Sicilia and 10 percent to the Maltese public. In 1986, the Bank inaugurated its first overseas representative office.