Might this perhaps be a niche which a cooperative bank, setting up shop here, might be able to exploit? Furthermore, I think that perhaps I should modify an observation I made earlier: namely, that the need to set up a cooperative bank in Malta has never so far been felt. On second thoughts, perhaps, this is not entirely true. For one of our smaller banks, one that, not surprisingly, was founded by a Jesuit priest in 1910, actually did begin life as a cooperative society. It was originally called the Lega dell’ Apostolato della Preghiera, and its main aims were the setting up of a number of initiatives, all with an underlying social purpose. These included: a savings bank, intended to instil habits of thrift among the working classes; a mutual benefit society; a printing press; the publication of a Maltese language periodical; an evening school for the teaching of languages, music and crafts; an emigration bureau to help Maltese citizens wishing to settle in other countries; schemes for the free provision of food, medicines and medical care to the needy; a public lotto office; and a recreational club for members. It – or at least the savings bank part of its operations – only became a private limited company as recently as 1970, just before Malta’s first Banking Act was enacted. And this, perhaps, should give us a clue as to why we do not have a Maltese cooperative bank today.
There is no doubt that the updated recommendations will enhance the level and methods of protection of the economic system against such type of crimes threatening it. In conclusion, I would like to express my thanks and gratitude for your respected group for its achievements accomplished during its short life, wishing you continued success. I thank the organizers for their efforts. I also welcome you again in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and I hope that your meetings in this session will be a success. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches