Greens demand resignation of Bank of Valletta chairman

AD – ‘Finance minister should assume political responsibility since BOV chairman is appointed by the government.’

6 June 2012, 12:00am
by Matthew Vella

2 min read

Bank of Valletta chairman Roderick Chalmers.

Alternattiva Demokratika has called for the resignation of the government-appointed chairman of the Bank of Valletta, after the bank was fined over €200,000 in a decision by the regulator on the mis-sale of the La Valette peroprty fund to retail clients.

"Following the latest ruling of the Malta Financial Services Authority, BOV chairman Roderick Chalmers and other officials directly involved in the matter should assume responsibility and resign," the party said in a statement.

AD also that finance minister Tonio Fenech should assume political responsibility, given government's shareholding with the bank as well as due to the fact the BOV chairman is appointed by the government.

"People were misguided by BOV. Minister Tonio Fenech should have seen the writing on the wall and should assume political responsibility for this. AD demands full release of government's correspondence on the matter," AD said.

The Malta Financial and Services Authority fined BOV the maximum fine available under the applicable legislation of €203,150 for breaching license conditions when selling units in the fund to its clients.

The bank will now undergo a review by an independent professional services firm, engaged by the MFSA at the expense of the bank, to prepare a list of ineligible investors to whom the bank should offer further compensation, tagged at €1 per unit.

In June 2011, BOV offered investors a conditional compensation offer of 75c per share after the La Valette fund was found to have lost some €50 million in value, which prompted a series of judicial protests against the bank in the name of the property fund investors by Bonello's accusations were later confirmed in the investigation by the financial services authority that fined BOV and its investment arm Valletta Fund Management €350,000 over a breach of investment services rules.

The MFSA then issued a reprimand to former La Valette property fund director John C. Ripard, for having sold his holding in the fund on the basis of insider information.

Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...

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Anthony Haidon •

Merill31 is asking a question with his comment No.8 Maybe I can help.I do not think that the term small shareholder has been used in this context, I think you mean experienced or inexperienced investor. The experienced investor is deemed to be able to look after his affairs even though we employed the services of a wealth manager whilst the inexperienced investor is dependant on the advice given. The former will get NOTHING and the latter will get the twenty five percent withheld from the offer even though both are victims of a mismanaged fund. But worst of all is the criteria by which the class is determined, by finding out whether the investor has transacted more than USD.50,000 during the last five years. I never heard such rubbish

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Please can you tell us the so called small shareholders,if we be getting the 1Euro per unit as we had to take the 75cents.(i had 25700 unit and i was told that i an a small shareholder so i had to take 75cents)

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MR Chalmens and the rest must go to save the BOV name!!!!!!!!!

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Whilst demanding resignations seems to be the usual blaming effect of populist reaction, it would be ethical of Bank of Valletta plc to re-imburse investors of the lost monies, based on two assumptions, based on fairness in trading: a) some investors were asked to sign (blindly) that they are experienced investors, and, I can demonstrate this using a handwriting comparison and with an analysis of the verbal conversation between the then potential customer and the investment executive b) the financial services institution clearly did not manage the fund adequately, and, this has been recognized by MFSA Whether Mr. Chalmers resigns or not, is not my problem, but it is typical of Maltese people to word protests in this manner. However, investors want their hard-earned savings back, and, sustainable guarantees when investing in funds, such as capital guarantees. This is why bank employees are meant to be professionals.

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And the National Bank of Malta are still waiting for their compensation 38 years on. Bank of Valletta should take on a different approach and ask the Government to stop interfering with their business. Take a look at this page https://www.facebook.com/Road.to.Democracy and judge for yourself.

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Nikwotq " Tonio Fenech ghandu igorr ir responsabbilta politika " Din cajta jew ? Min Tonio Fenech jirrezenja ? Ma tarawx li qeghedin titolbu hafna ta l A.D. Mela dawk jafu x`inhi responsabbilta politika. Ma rajtux x`gara biex fl`ahhar kellu jirrezenja ministru.Kemm inhela hin u rizorsi umani. Sirna qiesna ta barra min ghawn...kullhadd joffendi, tghedded, tgerrim tas snien.Dan kollu ghax ministru kellu igorr ir responsabbilta politika.Jipretendu li ser jibqaw hemm ghal l-eternum.

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In civilised countries where integrity is a sine qua non, Mr Chalmers would have long gone and so would the Minster of Finance . Chalmers is hiding behind the reasoning that he does not want to run away and wants to stay on to solve the problems.!!!! This resonong does not hold water. With this arguemnt nobody would resign from anything so that they can stay on and solve whatever it is they should resign for!!!!....CMB should have been kept to sort out the mess in the Minstry of Justice and the prisons! Appointing the person responsbile for this loss making fund and who should have tendered his resignatiion pronto, - Charles Borg - instead, has been awarded with a promotion ...to the CEO of the Bank. Unbeleivbable!!Serious loss of money was experienced by investors and soemone should shoulder their responsibilites for this mess. These persons are the Chairman of the Bank, the CEO, and the MinIster of Finance who is responsible for a substantial and material chunk of the Bank's shareholding and for appointing the Chairman and many of the directors. The whole Board should go......but then, INTEGRITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY are the operative words here - words the value and meaning of are unknown in this country!

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In civilised countries, these directors, past directors and chairmen are sued in civil and criminal courts, thus accountability for wrongful actions are upheld. Of course, one may always argue that Malta does not form part of that select group (especially when it suits our purpose to say so).

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AD must realise that resignations doesn't happen in Malta and that Mr Chalmers is not a CUC Malti.