BOV committed to prevent people using the bank for illegitimate purposes

In a statement, the Bank of Valletta listed a number of measures it is taking to face issues cause by the rapidly changing local and international financial landscape.

One such measure is the ongoing due diligence review of financial intermediaries doing business with the bank. The bank claims to have terminated around 70 intermediary relationships over the past year as a result of this exercise. Additionally, the bank claims to have terminated hundreds of banking relationships, many of which were established in the past decade and beyond. The statement says that relationships may have to be terminated in the coming months as the exercise continues, if and when there is evidence that they may not be meeting the bank’s expectations in terms of proper standards of conduct.

Other measures mentioned in the statement include the setting up of an Anti-Financial Crime (AFC) Department, which holds responsibilities which stretch beyond the traditional prevention of money laundering and funding of terrorism function, as well as the recruitment of several employees for its Risk, Compliance and AFC functions, and the tightening of its Customer Acceptance Policy.

The bank says it is being guided by expert external consultancies, including 'Big Four' audit firms and international firms specialised in gaming regulation. It has also shard the findings of three in-depth independent expert reports commissioned by the bank in the past three years with the local and EU regulators on its anti-financial crime process and shared. The bank says the process of implementing the recommendations of these reports is now in progress. Anti-money laundering issues are also a regular item of discussion at board and management committee level, the statement claims.

The bank insists that its objective is not to make short-term profits, but to ensure long-term sustainability and will therefore continue to make the necessary investments in people, training and IT in order to protect the stability of the bank itself, and of the local financial services sector.