Bank of Valletta (BOV) Chief Operations Officer Ernest Agius has revealed that BOV’s recent IT system upgrade, which saw a number of services suspended during the new year, took a total of three years to implement.

During the last days of 2019, BOV had suspended certain services and also closed for business between 30th and 31st December in order for data from the old IT system to be migrated onto the new one.

In a mini-interview given to One news, Mr Agius explained that actually, the system took three years to be implemented.

“The process started four years ago,” Mr Agius said. He spent one year researching different systems, before landing on the one currently in use. Around 600 financial institutions worldwide operate using the IT system chosen by BOV.

Explaining the decision to change the system, Mr Agius said this was done for BOV to “be more competitive and innovative.”

He said the widespread use of the new IT system has helped make BOV more relevant.

"This investment looks at not just extending the core banking system and enriching data to meet regulatory demands, but to also make ourselves relevant for the future in terms of digital services available to clients”.

BOV staff had to be extensively trained, however he said that the new system makes their lives easier as date is more secure and more accessible.

Equating BOV to a human, Mr Agius said that changing the IT system was equivalent to a heart transplant.

Turning to whether the change would only be felt from an internal perspective, Mr Agius said that clients too feel the difference, such as with internet banking.

He explained that thanks to the new system being data enriched, old pieces of information on a long-standing client which may be missing or incomplete are now flagged.

Mr Agius was appointed COO in May 2016. His previous position within the Bank was that of Change Management Executive, responsible for the setting up of
the Change Management Function, which incorporates Process Management.

His career in the financial services sector spans more than thirty two years during which he has held a number of senior executive positions within the Business and IT.