Izola Bank

Izola Bank is a small, independent Maltese bank with an unusual pedigree. It is wholly owned by the Van Marcke Group, a family-run business founded in Belgium in 1929 that trades in plumbing, heating and sanitary products, and it was set up in Malta to serve the group's own commercial needs. Today it also lends to Maltese and Belgian companies and offers savings accounts to personal clients, from a head office at 4 Castille Place in Valletta.

The bank has held its licence since 1994, so it has more than thirty years of experience in factoring and corporate lending. Its aim is to be an ethical, relevant and agile bank that delivers financial solutions with a human touch. It is also multilingual, working with clients in Malta, Belgium, France and the Netherlands. For visitors and new residents, it is listed in our directory of banks in Malta.

Ownership, history and approach

When the Van Marcke Group created a banking arm, it chose Malta because the island offers a robust regulatory framework within Europe, good communications and IT infrastructure and a professional workforce. The group is best known in Belgium, and it has sales operations in France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the USA and Malta. Its stores number more than 140 outside Belgium, and its new distribution centre in Kortrijk is carbon neutral.

Izola Bank became involved in the group's treasury operations, particularly cash and liquidity management, lending and factoring. A natural next step was to offer the group's clients niche products with exclusive benefits, and from there to provide tailor-made financing for small and large companies in Malta and Belgium that want to grow or fund a particular project. The bank also works with two pan-European deposit platforms to offer personal deposits in several European countries, which gives it a more diverse and liquid source of funding.

The bank is the right size for the job: small enough that customer care means real people to talk to, and experienced enough to understand a company's financing needs. Its working style is a partnership with the client, in which it listens to the business objectives and then offers digital tools to help realise them. In practice that means a business can expect a conversation about its plans before any facility is shaped, rather than a standard product form, and personal savers use the same app and online service as everyone else.

Corporate lending and savings

The corporate side is aimed at medium-sized and large enterprises. Facilities include commercial mortgages, overdrafts, revolving facilities, accounts receivables financing, commercial working capital facilities, bridge loans, capital expenditure financing and project financing, each designed around the client's requirements. Term loans and overdrafts form the commercial credit lines, and structures can be tailored to finance specific needs.

Corporate savings are available too, although only to licensed and regulated financial institutions. They can hold savings and term deposit accounts in euros, which supports liquidity management and earns interest on surplus cash. The bank's corporate services are currently available only in Malta.

For context on where a bank like this fits in the Maltese economy, our overview of financial services in Malta is a good starting point, and our explainer on the corporate tax structure in Malta helps if you are weighing up a company in Malta.

Izola Factor and invoice finance

Izola Factor is the bank's factoring service. Factoring means selling your unpaid business-to-business invoices to a financier in return for early cash. At Izola, the application process is fast, and up to 90 per cent of the value of the invoices, less the financing fee, is paid within 24 hours of the invoices being uploaded to the bank's portal.

The bank presents factoring as a way to deal with tight cashflow without taking on extra debt, so a business can concentrate on growth. Like the other corporate services, Izola Factor is currently available only in Malta, and clients log in through a dedicated Izola Factor portal. A local business with long payment terms from its own customers is the typical user, so a UK company with a Maltese subsidiary may find the product relevant.

Personal savings: Izola Saver and Saver+

Izola Saver is an online savings account that can be opened in minutes with just €25 and managed through the Izola Bank app or online banking. Interest accrues on the daily balance, and customers can add or withdraw money without affecting the rate. The rate is variable, so it can change at the bank's discretion, and customers are told by email before a change. Interest is paid gross, and residents of Malta can choose to have withholding tax deducted when they apply. Our Malta tax guide for UK nationals gives wider background on how tax works for British residents.

Money can only move between the Izola Saver account and a linked principal bank account held in the customer's own name, by standard SEPA transfer or SEPA Instant, which credits within seconds. The bank charges nothing for those transfers. A minimum balance of €25 must remain, and funds that arrive by SEPA Direct Debit cannot be withdrawn for nine weeks. The Saver+ term deposit accounts can be opened with as little as €500, and the app lets customers open as many as they like.

To apply you must be over 18 and hold a principal bank account with an established bank in Malta, Belgium or France, depending on where you live. Izola Saver is for individuals and is not available to companies, and every application is checked against the bank's eligibility rules. UK residents should therefore confirm eligibility before applying. The bank accepts deposits only in euros.

Regulation, deposit protection and complaints

Izola Bank p.l.c. is licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority to carry on the business of banking under the Banking Act. It takes part in the Depositor Compensation Scheme, which guarantees balances in euros or other EEA currencies up to €100,000 per person, subject to the scheme's conditions. Anyone depositing more than that is advised to read the risks and guarantees section of the product guide first.

Complaints can be sent by post or by email through the Help Centre, and the bank aims to reply within two working days. If you are not satisfied with the response, you can take the matter to the Office of the Arbiter for Financial Services in Msida. The bank has also built a record of community work, including support for the Foodbank Lifeline Foundation as a joint main sponsor since 2019, and it won an Employee of Choice Award from Business Leaders Malta in 2019.

Leadership and investor information

The board is chaired by Caroline van Marcke, who is also chief executive and majority shareholder of the Van Marcke Group, and the bank's chief executive and executive director is Andrew Mifsud, who joined the bank in 1994. The board has committees for audit and risk, credit, asset and liability management, remuneration and nomination, and strategy. The bank's external auditors are BDO Malta.

Investors can find annual reports, interim statements, company announcements and prospectus documents on the website, including documents for its 5 per cent unsecured subordinated bonds 2027 to 2032. This page does not give investment advice, so read the documents yourself and take independent advice where needed.

Finding the Valletta head office and making an enquiry

The head office is at 4 Castille Place in Valletta, within the walled capital. If you are visiting, our Valletta guide explains how to spend a day there, St John's Co-Cathedral is one of the sights you are most likely to see, and our list of hotels in Valletta helps you plan an overnight stay. A short distance away is AE Business Advisors, another financial firm in our directory.

If you are moving to Malta, our UK guide to relocating to Malta covers banking and settling in. Use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page, and we will pass your message to Izola Bank, who will reply to you directly.