Banking customers offered home loan moratorium due to Covid-19

HSBC Bank Malta has announced that it would be helping customers experiencing financial difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 emergency, with a three-month repayment moratorium on their loan.

The bank is also offering a waiver on late payment fees for all credit card accounts, as well as a temporary increase in overdraft or credit card limits, subject to eligibility criteria.

The bank said it will consider short term capital repayment holidays on term lending for customers facing loss of business. But interest repayments will need to continue being made throughout the term of the concession. “This will enable businesses to meet other payments until the situation reverts to normal,” the bank said.

Additionally, HSBC is offering Fee-free temporary short-term working capital funding to help customers facing cash-flow problems, and a faster turnaround on issuance of shipping guarantees and waiver of urgency fees.

“To help customers experiencing delays in receiving shipping documents from counterparties, the bank will give issuance of shipping guarantees ‘immediate priority’, as opposed to the standard ‘same-day’ issuance. We will also waive our ‘urgency fees’ in such cases. This means a customer can take transfer or receive goods from their counterparty faster without incurring additional costs,” the bank said.

HSBC is also offering a waiver of amendment fees on Letters of Credit impacted by delays.

Bank of Valletta earmarked a fund of €10 million for direct working capital for business customers facing cash flow issues related to COVID-19 scenario.

Measures will be considered on a case-by-case basis on the particular circumstances of each business customer and may include capital repayment holidays ranging from between three and twelve-month, ease of trade finance services via internet banking at no additional cost, and provision of direct working capital for customers facing short term cash flow issues.

The terms for the provision of direct working capital is for a period of six months priced at 3.5% repayable over twelve months at zero charges. Each case will be analysed on its own merits and will still be subject to credit approval and the maximum loan per customer may not exceed €500,000. This will ensure that the allocated fund will be made available to as many customers as possible.

Other initiatives for assistance may be considered depending on the particular exigencies of the business customer.