‘Despite vaccine, a return to business normality is still a long way off’ – APS Bank CEO

APS Bank CEO Marcel Cassar has issued a warning that the recovery of businesses post-COVID may be protracted, depite vaccine success.

In a statement as part of APS Bank’s financial report, Mr Cassar explained that “while an effective vaccine may signal the start of a rebound in terms of human health, a return to business normality is still a way off”.

As such, he argues, “as Governments and banks continue to extend their assistance and loan moratoria into 2021, the coming months are critical to assess the scale of risk and how robust the economic recovery will be”. 

Mr Cassar’s statement came as the bank “posted the best possible results in what are probably the most challenging circumstances, beating European peers and benchmarks and even [the bank’s] own forecasts”. 

Looking to the future, he said “2021 will see [APS Bank] making progress for the next phases of [its] capital development plan” which is targeted for 2022. 

Its “campaign to raise what would be the largest- ever round of capital for APS Bank will demonstrate [its] long-term commitment to the Maltese economy, underpinned by a strategy and business model that are always true to [its] values,” he continued.

His remarks came as APS reported a strong year, where “despite the unprecedented economic circumstances”, a number of indicators show stability at the bank.

APS Group brought in a net comprehensive income of €11,644,000 in 2020.

Furthermore, the total value of assets held by bank expanded more than €250 million to reach €2.4 billion.

Additionally, lending activity at the bank, which is owned by the Archdiocese of Malta and Gozo, reached €1.8 billion in 2020, representing a growth of 13.8 per cent.