Bank of Valletta and the Malta Development Bank (MDB), have launched the ‘BOV-MDB COVID Assist’, a financing scheme aimed at assisting local businesses facing unprecedented disruptions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The BOV-MDB COVID Assist (BMCA) has been developed under the “MDB COVID-19 guarantee scheme” to provide access to finance for all types of local businesses, facing COVID-19 related challenges.
It will enable them to meet working capital requirements, aiding them with running costs such as employees’ wages and salaries, bills, pending invoices, acquisition of stock, maintenance costs and expenses that are critical for the smooth running of the business.
SMEs can take a loan up to €4 million, while large enterprises can apply for up to €8 million, subject to bank’s approval. Repayment terms can range between 18 and 72 months, with an inclusive moratorium period of six months that can be extended to 12 months depending on particular circumstances of the business.
“Once again, Bank of Valletta will be supporting the local business community by providing much-needed liquidity and working capital facilities in these challenging times,” chief credit officer Albert Frendo said.
“Right at the start of this pandemic, we launched a number of initiatives to assist our business customers. Now, through our long-term collaboration with MDB, we shall be offering further credit supportive measures with attractive, all-inclusive interest rates starting from a fixed rate of 2.5% for the first two years, at no additional fees and charges. We are currently discussing with MDB how business customers will be refunded with the two-year interest rebate, recently announced by the government.”
Bank of Valletta, Frendo said, was determined to ensure that SMEs would benefit from a highly attractive proposition during this difficult period and that the BOV-MDB COVID Assist would provide the much-needed liquidity injection to local businesses and the economy.
The government has allocated a €350 million fund to the Malta Development Bank to set up and manage the MDB COVID-19 guarantee scheme with the purpose of guaranteeing loans granted by commercial banks to businesses facing unprecedented cash flow disruptions.
MDB chairman Josef Bonnici said Bank of Valletta was the first bank which met MDB’s criteria and was now accredited to assist its customers under the scheme.”
This scheme will be available until December 31. Businesses seeking to avail themselves of the BOV-MDB COVID Assist are to send an email to smefinance@bov.com, or if they are BOV customers to their relationship manager, business centre or corporate centre. Further information on how to apply can be found here.