HSBC Malta Sold in 14-Day Whirlwind: Spanish CrediaBank Seals Deal Over Rabbit Stew

**Watch: HSBC Malta deal sealed in two weeks – CrediaBank shareholder**

In a whirlwind fortnight that has left Malta’s financial community breathless, HSBC Malta’s fate was sealed faster than most locals can finish a festa season. According to a CrediaBank shareholder who spoke exclusively to *Hot Malta*, the deal that will see the Spanish lender snap up HSBC’s Maltese operation was hammered out in just fourteen days – a pace more reminiscent of a summer fling than a €200 million banking takeover.

“It was love at first sight,” the shareholder quipped, sipping a cappuccino at Café Cordina while the noon church bells of Valletta tolled overhead. “Two weeks, three Zoom calls, and one very late-night plate of rabbit stew at Nenu’s. That’s all it took.”

For an island where the phrase “mañana, mañana” is practically a national motto, the speed is staggering. Maltese negotiations usually stretch longer than a village festa fireworks display, yet this deal sprinted from first wink to signed contract quicker than you can say “pastizzi”.

**A BANK THAT BUILT MODERN MALTA**

HSBC arrived in 1999, rebranding the old Mid-Med Bank whose art-deco branches once dotted every village square like band clubs. Over 25 years it financed the SmartCity towers, the hospital expansion, and half the apartment blocks that now sparkle in Sliema’s sunset. Grandparents still call it “Mid-Med” when they queue to cash their pension cheques; teenagers only know the red-and-white hexagon from their Revolut top-ups.

“It feels like losing a piece of our skyline,” says Maria Camilleri, 68, who has banked at the Birkirkara branch since 1973. “My husband’s first fishing-boat loan, our home mortgage, even my daughter’s wedding – all signed on that mahogany counter. Will Credia keep the counter? Will they keep the staff who know our names?”

**COMMUNITY RIPPLES**

The takeover lands at a delicate moment. Malta is still shaking off grey-list jitters, and the European Central Bank is watching our books like a hawk circling over Gozo’s cliffs. Yet inside the sunny courtyards of HSBC’s Qormi headquarters, employees are smiling again. Credia has promised “no forced redundancies” and a €15 million tech upgrade – music to ears tired of apologising for crashed mobile-bank apps.

Union boss Kevin Galea calls it “the best possible break-up text”. “We feared a cold Nordic buyer or a faceless fund,” he tells *Hot Malta*. “Instead we get a fellow Mediterranean bank that still shuts for siesta. There’s cultural empathy.”

**CULTURE CLASH OR FIESTA FUSION?**

Spain and Malta share more than 300 days of sunshine. Both countries treat lunch as sacred and family as everything. Credia’s brass already speak of sponsoring village festas and launching a co-branded HSBC-Credia *kannoli* card. Skeptics warn of hollow marketing, but the shareholder insists: “We didn’t buy a balance sheet; we bought 25 years of trust. You don’t earn that by renaming a branch and slapping on a new logo.”

Still, questions linger. Will Credia tolerate Malta’s love of cash? Will Spanish compliance officers smile when a 75-year-old farmer deposits €50,000 in tuna-sale proceeds in a biscuit tin? And what of the arts? HSBC’s foundation funds the Malta Jazz Festival and the Valletta Film Week. Locals hope flamenco guitars simply join the clarinets, not replace them.

**WHAT HAPPENS NEXT**

Regulatory approval could take six months – plenty of time for three village feasts, one general election, and at least one political scandal. Until then, the red hexagon stays, staff keep their ties, and ATMs still spit out €10 notes for beach ice-cream.

As the Credia shareholder heads to the airport, he leaves behind a parting gift: a crate of Rioja reserved for the first 100 customers who switch to Credia’s “Mediterranean Premium” account. “Malta gave us sun, sea, and a deal in two weeks,” he laughs. “The least we can do is share the wine.”

Whether this marriage becomes a lasting *serenata* or a quick *divorcio*, one thing is certain: the island that once financed the Knights of St John is again at the crossroads of empires – only this time the conquistadors arrive with Excel sheets instead of galleons. Raise a glass of *Kinnie*–Rioja spritz; the next chapter of Maltese money is being written faster than you can finish this sentence.