Bank of Valletta said on Wednesday that it is not interested in joining bids to acquire HSBC Bank Malta.
Its clarification came a day after it said that it had been approached by third parties wishing to bid to take over the operations of its local rival.
Finance Minister Clyde Caruana had immediately voiced his opposition on Tuesday, stressing that he wanted to see more, not less competition in the banking sector. Making a comparison to a football match, he said that competition did not improve when one team also had players in the other.
The government is the largest shareholder in BOV and appoints its chairman.
Central Bank acting governor Alexander Demarco on Wednesday also brushed off the prospect of BOV getting involved in a takeover of HSBC, indicating that CBM was opposed to the idea of local banks merging.
“Following upon statements made by relevant authorities, the Bank is clarifying that it is not interested in entering into transactions which would be – or could be perceived as – directly increasing market concentration in the banking industry,” Bank of Valletta said in a company statement to the Stock Exchange.
“Consequently, the Bank will not be pursuing any transaction relating to the acquisition of shares in HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c.”
Times of Malta reported last week that HSBC will select its preferred bidder by the end of spring.
APS Bank pulled out of the race two weeks ago and Hungarian bank OTP, which had reportedly expressed an interest, also appeared to be out of the contest, according to sources. Six other groups were believed to have expressed an interest but the field narrowed as discussions progressed.
BOV’s involvement had been requested by a local consortium after several of its initial members pulled out.
German fintech firm RS2 and two, as yet unnamed, non-EU banks have also been in discussions with HSBC over the past months.
