I have run all the articles of The Maltese Herald through two different chatbots to calculate which banks are most frequently mentioned as carrying the most risk through their politically exposed clients and clients with suspected criminal activity.
The results show that, unequivocally and by a very wide margin, the Maltese bank carrying the most risk with publicly known individuals suspected of criminal activity is Bank of Valletta. BOV is followed by Pilatus Bank.
It is no coincidence that many of these clients with suspected irregular activity also have direct or indirect links to the Labour Party. Some of the high-profile cases of BOV clients with suspected criminal activity include Rosianne Cutajar, Christian Borg, Roderick Galdes, and the Prime Minister himself (along with his wife).
BOV’s Chief Risk Officer, Miguel Borg, was also fired by the bank following the revelations that he had approved a loan to Steward Health Care which was left unpaid. The current Chairperson of the bank’s Risk Committee is also involved in extensive conflicts of interests between the bank and one of its clients, Malita Investments (the government’s company currently being used for social housing projects).
Executive Chairman Gordon Cordina seems to be doing a very good job at improving the bank’s balance sheet, and he has technically upgraded the bank to a much better position, however the bank has a history and reputation of being used as a corruption bucket for the government and top government officials. The bank’s risk-tolerance by handling risky clients like Christian Borg, may also indicate that well-connected people with the Labour Party have free use of the bank’s services without being subjected to any serious due diligence.
The Executive Chairman may be allowing a high-risk tolerance with regard to some PEPs, due to his dependence on the government for his post, because he is very well aware of the risk the bank is carrying. It is difficult to deny the government’s over-arching influence over the bank (the government owns up to 26% of the bank and chooses its chairman).
The latest bank’s Chief Risk Officer, Danielle Grima has resigned just after three years in her post.
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