APS Bank CEO: ‘We could’ve bought HSBC Malta—but Switzerland offered more’

APS Bank CEO Marcel Cassar has insisted his institution “had the resources to complete the HSBC Malta acquisition” had political winds blown differently, delivering a rare post-mortem on the collapsed €1 billion deal that would have redrawn the island’s banking map. Speaking to *Hot Malta* after last week’s AGM, Cassar said APS walked away “capital-ready” but refused to be drawn into a bidding war once HSBC’s global board signalled it was entertaining a higher Swiss offer. “We presented a full, fully-funded Maltese solution,” he said, fingers drumming the board-room table that overlooks Valletta’s Grand Harbour. “At the eleventh hour, international shareholders chose price over place. That’s their right. Our books were open, our regulators on side. The only thing we couldn’t match was a premium written in Geneva.”

For a country where banking is woven into the national psyche—think *BOV* festa banners fluttering next to parish saints and elderly widows still quoting 1970s interest rates in *tal-peża*—the failed takeover is more than board-room chess. It is a cultural moment that has reignited debate about who really owns Malta’s purse strings. HSBC arrived in 1999, rebranding the old Mid-Med Bank and ushering Maltese savers into global mutual funds. Twenty-five years on, the red-and-white hexagon is as familiar as *Kinnie*, yet few expected the exit to be so swift, or so lucrative: Swiss buyer EFG International tabled €1.1 billion, valuing the Maltese operation at nearly double its book value.

Inside APS’s sleek Qormi headquarters, staff who had been prepping for a doubled branch network spent last weekend shredding integration manuals and, according to one junior manager, drowning disappointment in *pastizzi* from the canteen. “We were mentally ready to welcome 1,200 new colleagues,” she sighs. Instead, HSBC Malta’s 370,000 customers now face the prospect of another foreign brand on their debit cards—EFG has already hinted at “streamlining”—while APS must reassure investors why it hoarded €300 million in extra tier-1 capital that will not now be deployed.

Cassar rejects any suggestion of over-reach. “Retained capital is not wasted; it is Maltese resilience,” he counters, pointing to planned €50 million tier-2 green bonds aimed at rooftop solar and electric ferry fleets. “We channelled the setback into national projects. The same week the deal died, we approved €20 million for Gozo aquaculture farmers hit by summer storms.” Still, small investors at the AGM grilled him on dividend policy, noting that APS’s share price has lagged peers since December’s takeover news broke. One retired teacher from Żejtun waved an abacus—literally—demanding “*Il-flus tagħna, fejn huma?*” (“Our money, where is it?”). The room erupted in nervous laughter, but the message was clear: Maltese shareholders expect local loyalty to pay tangible returns.

Across the harbour, HSBC’s 120-year-old Dome branch in Valletta is already quietly removing lion-and-globe insignia. Pensioners who still queue for paper statements greet the cosmetic changes with suspicion. “My father opened my first account here in 1957,” says 82-year-old Dolores Borg, clutching a frayed passbook. “First the British left, then the Americans came, now the Swiss. We are always someone’s *kaxxa ta’ trunġieri* (cash box).” Her lament echoes a wider fear that Malta’s financial sector is drifting back into colonial-era stewardship, even as the island touts blockchain citizenship and AI hubs.

Yet Cassar sees opportunity in the vacuum. APS has re-submitted bids for the Malta Development Bank’s forthcoming €150 million affordable-mortgage scheme and is piloting bilingual AI chatbots trained on *Malti* colloquialisms—“Because *‘għandi bżonn overdraft’* should be understood by software,” he smiles. The bank is also reviving dormant village branches in Siggiewi and Marsa with hybrid co-working spaces, a nod to the *band club* model where financial advice and social life intersect.

Will ordinary Maltese reciprocate? Early signs are mixed. APS reported a net €60 million in new retail deposits in the first quarter, but social-media sentiment surveys by local analytics firm *Statos* show only 42% trust “home-grown” brands more after the HSBC saga. Cassar remains bullish. “Trust is earned in decades, lost in days, regained in hours,” he quotes, attributing the aphorism to his grandmother rather than Warren Buffett. “We have 104 years of Maltese mornings on our side. That counts for something.”

As the sun sets over the bastions, casting a honey-coloured glow on cruise-liners and centuries-old limestone, the island’s smallest systemic bank must now prove that staying local is not Plan B, but a different kind of victory. For a nation that measures wealth in cousins, coastline and *ħobż biż-żejt*, the message resonates: the price of belonging may be refusing the highest bidder.