Bank of Valletta withdraws decision to pay shareholders €15.3m in dividends

Bank of Valletta decides to follow European Central Bank's COVID-19 recommendation and postpone dividend payments to shareholders for the financial year 2019

Bank of Valletta has withdrawn its decision to pay out a dividend of 2c6 per share for financial year ending 2019
Bank of Valletta has withdrawn its decision to pay out a dividend of 2c6 per share for financial year ending 2019

Bank of Valletta has postponed its decision to pay out a dividend of 2c6 per share to shareholders for the financial year 2019.

The bank said on Tuesday it was following recommendations made by the European Central Bank in July urging banks not to pay out dividends until 1 January next year and make “no irrevocable commitment to pay out dividends for 2019 and 2020.

“The Board of Directors has decided to withdraw its original recommendation to the Annual General Meeting to approve the payment of a final dividend in respect of Financial Year 2019, and to reassess the situation during the first quarter of Financial Year 2021 as recommended by the ECB,” the bank said.

Directors had proposed a total gross dividend for 2019, amounting to €15.3 million.

Earlier this year the bank had decided to keep the initial proposal for distribution of the dividend but to make the actual payment conditional to the reassessment in October 2020.

The ECB has urged credit and financial institutions to keep in mind the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.