Vision and Mission
Our vision is to grow our enterprise into a recognised European financial institution as a provider of banking, investment, depositary and fund custody services, excelling in service and expertise.
Our mission is to deliver value to our customers by offering quality, professional and effective services through a dedicated and talented team of professionals. It is through these actions that we can assist in delivering value.
Shareholding Structure
Sparkasse Bank Malta plc was established in Malta in 2000. The Bank is fully owned by Anteilsverwaltungssparkasse Schwaz (“AVS”), a corporate entity established in Austria, governed by the Austrian Savings Bank Act, whose activities consist in holding and managing its assets, mainly its participation in Sparkasse Schwaz AG, a savings bank established in Austria, and in Sparkasse Bank Malta plc through Sparkasse (Holdings) Malta Limited.
Authorisations
Sparkasse Bank Malta plc is licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority as a credit institution in terms of the Banking Act (Chapter 371 of the Laws of Malta), licensed as Investment Firm and Depository in terms of the Investment Services Act (Chapter 370 of the Laws of Malta), and authorised as Registered Custodian in terms of the Retirement Pensions Act (Cap. 514 of the Laws of Malta). The Bank has established a branch in Dublin, Ireland, for the provision of depositary services to collective investment schemes, and is authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland to act as depositary to Irish authorised investment funds.
Business Model
The Bank seeks to avoid complexity of product and or services and embraces transparency, ethics and prudence in its business.
We aim to nurture relationships with our customers seeking to add value through what we do. Our banking and investment services are geared toward corporate entities, private customers, funds, asset managers and other regulated investment entities.
Governance and Organisation
Board of Directors
The responsibilities of the Board of Directors in general, and acting in its management and supervisory function respectively, are described in the Bank’s Internal Governance Policy, which includes the Terms of Reference of the Board of Directors. The key responsibilities of the Board of Directors consist of setting, approving and overseeing the implementation of the overall business strategy and key policies of the Bank, its overall risk strategy and internal governance and internal control framework.
The Board has established an Audit Committee and a Risk Committee. The Board of Directors itself fulfils the duties and role of the remuneration committee and the nomination committee without having established such committees.
The objective of the Audit Committee is to advise the Board on the Bank’s internal control, internal audit and risk management systems and the Bank’s accounting policies and external audit. The Risk Committee’s objective is to advise the Board of Directors on risk appetite and risk management within the Bank and overseeing the implementation of the Bank’s risk management framework. The functions of the respective Committees are set out in their Terms of Reference.
Senior Management and Management Committees
The Board of Directors has delegated certain management functions to Senior Management, namely the Managing Director and the Chief Technology Officer.
The Bank has created a Management Committee (‘MANCO’) in Malta, which is composed of the senior Heads or Managers of all departments. Its objective is to support and assist Senior Management in the performance of its management tasks, in particular by ensuring effective continuity, communication, coordination and cooperation between Senior Management and the departments, unit and functions within the Bank and between the various departments, units and functions themselves. The MANCO is chaired by and reports to the Managing Director.
The Regulatory Steering Committee is also a management committee, created to assist the Managing Director in managing and coordinating projects and initiatives to ensure compliance with regulatory and supervisory requirements and expectations across various departments and functions, managing and coordinating the Bank’s internal resolution planning and resolvability work programme, and facilitating the supervisory review and evaluation process (SREP) and resolution planning process conducted by the MFSA.
Organisational Structure - ‘three lines of defence’
The Bank follows the three lines of defence model for risk management and is organised so that the departments responsible for the business lines are separate from those responsible for support functions and internal control functions respectively.
The first line of defense, the business departments, is designed to distinguish between the Bank’s core business lines. Each department is headed by a separate Head or Manager of Department who holds overall responsibility for that department. Apart from the business departments, the Bank’s first line of defense provides for a number of support functions including the Account Management Department, Finance Department, IT Department, HR Department, Legal Department, Operations Department and Premises & Logistics Department., The Bank’s second line of defense are the internal control functions including the Risk Management Function, Compliance Department and AML/CFT Department. Internal Audit acts as the third line of defense.