Bank of Valletta plc - Moody’s Credit Opinion

Bank of Valletta plc issued a Company Announcement on 2 April making reference to the Credit Opinion issued by the international credit rating agency Moody’s on 31 March 2008.

Moody’s confirmed all BOV’s ratings as follows:
• Bank Deposits A3/Prime – 1
• Bank Financial Strength D+
• Baseline Credit Assessment Baa 3
• Senior Unsecured Debt A3
• Outlook (for all Ratings) Stable

BOV stated that with reference to the section of the report dealing with recent results and developments, Moody’s noted that they expect BOV’s 2008 results will be affected by mark to market write downs on fixed income securities held by the Bank (in the light of broadening credit spreads), and by the loss of foreign exchange trading gains following Malta’s adoption of the euro in January 2008. Moody’s however stated that BOV’s securities portfolio is of high quality, and the Bank expects the impact of the mark downs arising from the current market turmoil to be clawed back over time, as the investments are held through to maturity.

Meanwhile, in terms of the core retail and corporate businesses, BOV has continued to perform much in line with expectations, close to the high levels registered during the previous year.

In the Company Announcement BOV again noted that financial markets remain volatile, and confirmed that following the previous Company Announcement of 25 January 2008, this volatility will be reflected in the half yearly results to 31 March 2008, which will be below those achieved in the first six months of the previous financial year. BOV announced that these results will be published on 29 April 2008.