BoV project named amongst top five most innovative working practices in the world

Bank of Valletta has been short-listed for the prestigious Financial Innovation Awards 2002, organised by the Institute of Financial Services, and sponsored by British Telecom. This is the first-ever occasion for a Maltese bank to be short-listed alongside four other leaders in financial services.

Apart from BoV, this year's short-list includes Lloyds TSB, Abbey National, Newcastle Building Society, and Norwich & Peterborough.

Last year the jury received some 170 entries from financial institutions world-wide, each competing under fifteen different categories. Whilst the figures for this year have not yet been published, it is understood that the challenge is even greater. The judges observed that the nominations for 2002 were of an exceptionally good standard. They also commented that it is a real achievement for a Financial Institution to reach this far. The annual event symbolises a world showcase for some of the best new innovations from the past year.

BoV's nominated project is called CPS, and refers to one of the main centralisation initiatives of the Bank. CPS applies innovative re-engineering concepts to the processes of sanctioning, collateral maintenance, and credit review, thereby leading to gains in efficiency, reduced costs, and improved response time for customers. The new process is supported by an in-house built state-of-the-art browser-based software. The system integrates front-end branch functionality, with back-end automated maintenance of BOV's collateral portfolio of LM 1.8 billion.

To date, 11 branches and four business centres are already using the new system, whilst progress is under way to convert the rest of the bank in the shortest possible time.