Bank of Valletta booked €20.6 million in pre-tax profit during the third quarter of this year, as revenues and customer deposits rose when compared to 2020. 

Profit before tax stood at €46.5 million for the January to September period. 

The bank said that the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic was “ongoing but as yet incomplete”, citing improved volumes in home lending, cards and payments. 

It said it continued to review potential risks caused by Malta’s FATF greylisting, and said it was reinforcing its efforts “to meet regulatory expectations” made of Malta. 

Work is also underway to embed environmental, social and governance metrics into the bank’s framework, it said.

BOV’s revenues rose by 4% when compared to the same period in 2020, to reach €172.1 million. Operating costs were also up, albeit by a smaller margin – 1%. 

An increase in short-term deposits fuelled a 4% rise in customer deposits during the period under review, with the bank also increasing its lending book by 5.1%, mainly as a result of increased demand for home loans. 

Despite COVID-19 concerns, the bank’s share of loans classified as non-performing remained stable at 4.3%

The bank also registered a net impairment reversal of €3 million in the third quarter of the year, saying changes to the macroeconomic outlook would positively affect certain sectors and specific exposures it had. 

It however also earmarked €1.8 million as an impairment charge that quarter, to cushion any potential impact of default on some long outstanding non-performing loans. 

BOV said its increased efforts to boost recoveries from past debts “have continued to yield results” and said that it would be adopting a cautious outlook for the rest of the year. 

The bank’s insurance associates did “significantly better” than they did last year, it said, attributing the improvement to an increase in market value of investments and higher written premia.