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Updated | Bank of Valletta ‘insensitive’ to investors – Mangion
Labour MP Charles Mangion says bank was insensitive in refusing to extend its 30-day share compensation offer.
23 June 2011, 12:00am
Matthew Vella
Matthew Vella
2 min read
Updated at 4:56pm with finance ministry statement.
The Labour party has expressed its disappointment at Bank of Valletta’s “lack of sensitivity” for not extending its 30-day compensatory share offer to the investors in the La Valette Sicav’s multi-manager property fund.
“Labour is disappointed that BOV ignored the regulator’s appeal to extend its offer indefinitely until two other investigations into the property fund are completed,” shadow finance minister Charles Mangion said.
Labour is asking for a mediation between the bank and investors after the Malta Financial Services Authority fined the bank and Valletta Fund Management some €347,000 for breaching the Sicav’s investment restrictions for the property fund. BOV was the fund’s custodian.
“The fact that such a strong institution like BOV calls on the small investor to initiate legal action against it if they see fit, is unbecoming of its management. Labour supports BOV as a serious financial institution and for its vital role in the Maltese economic and society. But its trust cannot be undermined any longer… consumers must be protected,” Mangion said.
Bank of Valletta has decided it will not extend its compensatory share offer on the La Valette property fund, after MFSA chairman Joe Bannister said this extension would allow investors to “reflect calmly” and “seek good advice” on the offer.
The bank has offered investors a compensatory 75c per share valid for 30 days – but Bannister has asked that the offer be extended to give more time to investors “to reflect calmly, seek good advice, and take informed decisions” on the offer.
Bannister also said financial regulator will not be publishing the three investigative reports on the La Valette multi-manager property fund as demanded by investors and Finco Treasury Management, the authors of multiple judicial protests against Bank of Valletta. He said the regulator has never published the report of an investigation and said that only in the property fund saga has “much fuss” been made on the publication of what is “usually considered by everyone concerned as a confidential document.”
Mangion said the MFSA should publish the entire report and called on government to take responsibility for the bank’s action as one of the main shareholders which also appoints the BOV chairperson. “Both sides on this issue must be brought around a table and resolve their differences… this sector is still developing and it needs all the trust necessary to be stronger.”
In a reaction, finance minister Tonio Fenech said the MFSA was a regulatory authority, and accused Labour of not respecting its independence by asking for the government’s intervention. “Government is a minority shareholder. Although it appoints the chairman, any intervention by the government independently of the board of directors would expose it legal action by the bank’s shareholders and could lead to financial losses.”
Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...
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Mr Mifsud, as usual your comments are devoid of any form of substance. As usual you again resort to hallucinatory blogging. In fact, I could not believe my eyes when I read your comment on the HSBC Property Fund. This is a fund which adopts low gearing and despite this approach has still lost over 30% in value. You seem to have a very short memory and you seem to intentionally forget Mr Paul Bonello's repeated reference to HSBC's Property Fund performance versus that of Bov's Property Fund. Is this not conveniently relevant today!! Truly your line of argumentation is forth with flaws.
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Moreover, your politically motivated comments are completely misplaced and irrelevant to the matter at hand. After all the years of work undertaken by the MFSA, which today enjoys the trust of numerous international financial services organisations operating in Malta, an Authority which was unanimously set by parliament, I am hopeful that at least, if we disagree on everything connected to this matter, you are in agreement that it is surely unwise to start shedding doubts on the MFSA's integrity and decision making processes and procedures. God forbid that we start experiencing political intervention in financial services regulation as this will be the doomsday of the industry. As to your contentions which are clearly echoing those of Messrs Finco (you are truly and clearly a fervent disciple) I am simply replicating MFSA's comments of this morning:
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"The comments made by Finco in the press are unheard of in any reputable jurisdiction" - no further comment is needed.
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As to the Offer, even one of the top independent brokerage firms in Malta has deemed the Offer as being "fair and reasonable".
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The overall rhetoric in your last blog leads nowhere and leaves much to be desired. In effect I am truly coming to enjoy this (friendly) spat of views as your evident your lack of proper understanding of the mechanics of capital market are resulting in comments (BoV parties, promotions et al) which truly draw a smile on my face. I regret having had to comment so strongly today but well enough is enough....ultimately as they say...to each his own!!!
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lets take all the money out of b.o.v and day cut the crap
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Pprosit Dr. Mangion. Il bank diga beda idoqq l irtirata. Fil fatt l ewwel Chalmers u siehbu Depasquale qalulna li jekk ma ikunx hemm 70 per cent tal investituri l offerta tispicca. Issa anki jekk ikun hemm ftit se ihalsu. U dan tafu ghaliex.....ghax hafna mill investituri ma accettawx l offerta tal bank. Tal MFSA meta se taghmlu inkjesta bis serjeta jew qieghdin tibzu mil bank?
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Exactly - why do politicians have to get into what is purely and simply a regulatory issue? Let investors decide and seek advice if they need to.....period. All Bartolommeo and Mangion are after is pure political mileage. Thru on give a hoot for the investor.
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b.o.v meta irid jalaq ghajn ma min irid imma dejjem ma min irid.
Anthony Haidon •
Can't reporters and interviewers get it right? It is not the 35 odd days the Bank has granted us to consider its offer, I agree with Mr.Chalmers that the period is adequate, It is the fact that investors have, to date, only approximately a third of the information expected to emerge. The Bank's attitude puts everybody's back up including that of the MFSA. I agree with Professor Bannister when he says that the MFSA's investigation has to be thorough and the report word perfect, and I thank him for his hard work on the matter. However if the MFSA lacks authority, then it is the government's responsibility to pull rank and bring the litigating parties together. As some old fox (a legal brain) once told me, 'once litigating parties sit down and discuss you will be surprised what a high success rate such action attracts'
Mark Fenech •
Anton Deguara - mela jekk baqa zewg rapporti x'joħorġu mill-MFSA kif tippretendi inti li jiena bhala nvestitur niehu deciżżjoni u naċċetta dak li qiegħed joffri l'BOV, meta għadni mhux infurmat biżżejjed bid-danni li kkaġunawli l-uffiċċjali tal-BOV. Inti nvestitur, jekk iva mur u fferma u ħu dak li qiegħdin joffrulek il-BOV u għoqod ċiċi beqqi, jekk ma ntiex investitur allura tidħolx fiha għax ma għandek l-ebda nteres. Dwar kemm jiswa x-share ta' l-HSBC, ma għandu xjaqsam xejn. Dak fond u dan ieħor. Jiena wkoll għandi shares fil-GO fil-passat anke €7 kienu jiswew, illum mħabba l-bravi li jiġu minn barra u nvestew fil-Greċja, l-investimenti tagħna jiswew €1.34. Ara hemm kien it-tort tiegħi għax imissni kif privatizzawha l-GO imissni biethom. Imma meta mhux it-tort tiegħi u kaġun li l-uffiċċjali tal-BOV investew flusi mal-ħallelin tal-Belgravia allura hawn irrid dak li huwa tiegħi bi dritt. U dan kif l-MFSA tiddeċiedi li tikser il-liġi tagħha u ma tippublikax ir-rapporti, mela t-taxxi għalfejn jitħallsu minnha, biex nagħmlu liġi u dawn li jixorbu l-eluf ta' EUR jiddeċiedu huma kif taħdem il-liġi. Mela Mr. Bannister fuq il-liġi??? Din x'arroganza hi.
Imbagħad bħas soltu jitfaċċa d-dixxiplu ta' Mr. Chalmers - pcassarm - li jrid issa jindaħal ukoll lil Dr. Mangion f'isem l-oppożiżżjoni, x'għandu jagħmel. Mela sur dixxiplu ma tafx li l-BOV għandu 25% tal-Poplu Malti u bi dritt li jinnomina c-Chairman tal-bank. Issa trid tindaħal ukoll x'għandha tagħmel l-Oppożiżżjoni, la l-gvern ma jimpurtahx min-nies. Wara kollox Dr. Mangion pariri sewja qiegħed jagħti u jżomm newtrali kemm jista' jkun. L-anqas tistħi wkoll. Tħajjar oħroġ għall-elezzjoni li jmiss u għidilna x'jismek sewwa ħalli nikkanvasjawlek biex titla fil-parlament, għax tidher li tħobb taqbeż ħafna għan-nies tat-triq. Dawk li ffermaw u aċċettaw il-BOV għandu jagħamlilhom party u jagħtihom il-flus bħala ringrazzjament li ħelsu lil-BOV min bawxata kbira. Imma l-ġlieda tagħna hija sa l-aħħar, għax il-bank għandu ħafna x'jitlef aktar minnha tallii ma jkunx stamna ta' klijenti tajba. Il-BOV sejjer ikollu jibqa mċappas b'accounts ikwalifikati u jrid jagħmel provijon kull sena ta' l-interessi sakemm il-flus ma jħallasniex kif inhu xieraq. Ħallina dixxiplu ta' Mr. Chalmers, issa jagħtik promotion tgħalli qiegħed tikteb kontra l-interessi ta' l-investituri ż-żgħar u l-boss tiegħek għad jiġi żmien meta jrid jagħti l-kont ta' għemilu tibżax - ħadd wara ħadd ta' kulħadd tasal.
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Albeit I am not a shareholder in this Fund, I cannot understand why we witnessing political interventions on a case which is purely a regulatory one. The regulatory framework in Malta and its regulator, the MFSA, have always enjoyed the approval of both political parties in a unanimous manner. I think it is now unbecoming to seek to gain subtle "political mileage" on a matter which is in the hands of the MFSA which I am sure enjoys the support of both parties.
The Offer that was launched by Bank of Valletta is a voluntary one and investors are neither pressured nor compelled to take this up. It is my view that if investors do not feel that the Offer is fair and equitable, than they should simply not take it up and consider the ramifications of this decision. But leaving an offer open up indefinitely is simply a no brainer.
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Prosit Dr. Mangion. We may be expecting too much from Chalmers and Depasquale to admit that they have treated investors shabbily. Such an admission would have tarnished their self acclaimed reputation of 'inspirational leaders'. Putting the cutomer first is good banking practice but these gentlemen are too full of themselves to acknoledge this. Shame on them !
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Ma nafx ghala dan it-tigbid kollu. Din l-offerta tal Bank of Valletta issa diga ilha xi xahar u l-kaz ser jaghlaw aena dalwaqt. Kemm ser indumu inkarkru saqajna. U jekk tigi mtawwla dawk li hadu jew ser jiehdu l-offerta ser jibqghu isaffru jistennew flushom sabiex haddiehor joqghod ikompli jahsibha. Ma nahsibx li hemm hafna f'hiex wiehed jitfixkel u min jitfixkel kull ma ghandu jaghmel imur jiehu parir indipendenti sabies jinghata direzzjoni.
Fl-ahhar mill l-ahhar wara li dalghodu qrajt zewg artikli dwar dan il-kaz fuq it-Times, dan il-kumpens qieghed jinghata lill-investituri volontarjament. Is-sabiha hija li dan il-kumpens huwa fl-livell iktar gholi minn fond ta' propjeta tal Bank HSBC li bhalissa jiswa xi Euro 0.69c.
