Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1343350
5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 24 FEBRUARY 2021 NEWS LAURA CALLEJA THE Malta Gay Rights Movement has raised concerns that Malta's genitourinary (GU) clinic is set to close and replaced with community clinics, where doctors will re- ceive a one-day training session. Joe Grima, an MGRM official, said the closure of the specialised clinic could po- tentially be in the next two weeks, however, the NGO was not informed of the sudden change. "The only reason we know about this de- velopment is that patients asked to book their next appointment but were told by staff that they could no longer come to Ma- ter Dei Hospital," Grima said. Grima said the patients were told by staff that appointments would take place at clin- ics by general practitioners. "According to information we have man- aged to source, these GPs which already have their own duties, will now on top of that, be taking care of patients once ser- viced by the GU clinic, and only be given a one-day training session," Grima said. He added that the MGRM was blind-sight- ed by this decision, as it, along with experts were not consulted. He added that this sudden decision would negatively impact patients' mental health, who had formed bonds with staff at the GU clinic and trust- ed them. "If the health authorities were to announce a pilot study with the view of expanding the service within a year or two, we would have been all for it. This would have given the professionals time to collect feedback and statistics, assess new diagnoses and how they are handled and so on. But suddenly dismantling Malta's only GU Clinic, which in any case received funding very recently for a refurbishment, is incomprehensible," Grima said. HIV testing kit shortage The MGRM also flagged that self-testing HIV kits are temporally out of stock due to delays caused by Brexit. Grima said the next consignment of kits are expected to arrive next week at the earli- est, although that date cannot be confirmed due to uncertainties with the shipments. "This is a private initiative by MGRM. We increased stocks once we heard that the GU clinic's capacity was going to be limited due to COVID-19 and we were selling them at cost price, and sometimes at a small loss, in order to try and drive HIV testing. People were turning to them because that was the only option," Grima said. Grima said that the MGRM started using these kits to plug the gap caused by the pan- demic. "We've had them since September 2019, but kits were not massively popular. In fact whilst we do encourage them, we're slightly wary of a positive diagnosis being received by someone who is unable to han- dle the news alone at home. The benefit of attending a GU Clinic (with trained and ex- perienced personnel) was that there was a safety net, which leads us to why we're so concerned about this move," Grima said. MGRM concerned over plans to replace GU Clinic with community services NICOLE MEILAK HSBC Bank has reported a prof- it-before-tax value worth €10.4 million for the financial year, representing a 66% year-on-year decrease. This was revealed in their finan- cial performance report cover- ing the year ended 31 December 2020. Net interest income, derived from interest revenue and ex- penses, saw a 4% decrease to €105.9 million compared to the previous year. This was due to lower interest payments on cus- tomer, resulting from repricing exercises and changes in deposit composition, being offset by low- er average yields on debt securi- ties, money market placements, and lower overdraft and credit card balances arising from the current economic conditions. The bank's net fee income de- creased by €1.8 million com- pared to 209 figures, which the bank says was driven largely by a reduction in activity due to COV- ID-19 across cards, playments, insurance and credit facilities. Operating costs also took a dip, amounting to €97.4 million com- pared to €120.7 million reported in 2019, the latter of which in- cluded a restructuring provision worth €16 million. Excluding this provision, the bank said it delivered a cost re- duction worth €7.3 million, or 7%, while absorbing inflationary and other expenses related to COVID-19. Expected credit losses and oth- er credit impairment charges for the financial year stood at €25.6 million – an increase of €25.2 million compared to 2019. The bank said that this increase was driven by expected losses, as op- posed to incurred losses. The bank mentioned the possi- bility of future defaults linked to extended moratoria measures, and said that this has been con- sidered. Tax expense totalled €2.9 mil- lion in 2020, at an effective tax rate worth 27.5%. This is €7.7 million lower than the expense incurred in 2019, which stood at €10.5 million. The bank's insurance interme- diary, HSBC Life Assurance, re- ported a loss before tax of €9.1 million – a significant drop com- pared to the €3.1 million profit before tax reported in 2019. The bank said that this adverse vari- ance is largely attributable to a drop in financial markets and further deterioration of the yield curve negatively impacting reve- nues by €3 million. Actuarial losses of €8.4 million, as modelled parameters such as lapses and interest rates, were worse than those estimated in 2019. Financial position and capital Net loans and advances to cus- tomers increased by €7.2 million, totalling to €3,265 million with retail balances up 1% and com- mercial balances down 1% com- pared to December 2019. Customer deposits held in the bank grew by 6% to €5,273 mil- lion, driven by retail deposits with commercial balances broadly flat. The bank's advances-to-depos- its ratio was mainted at a 62% level, and its liquidity ratios re- mained "well in excess of regula- tory requirements". HSBC's financial investments portfolio decreased by 7% to €877 million, relating to the invest- ment of maturing debt securities in treasury bills. The HSBC Board recommend- ed a dividend pay-out ratio of 15% on the cumulated 2019 and 2020 reported profits, after de- ducting any dividend paid in re- lation to the same period. The final gross dividend will be 1.16 cents per share, with the final dividen to be paid on 26 April 2021 to those on the bank's register of shareholders as at 23 March 2021. Digital banking trends Simon Vaughan Johnson, CEO at HSBC Bank Malta, mentioned that customer behaviour trends have shown that digital transac- tions have more than doubled since the launch of their mobile banking app for personal cus- tomers towards the end of 2019. "This investment will be com- plemented shortly by the open- ing of a new and modern branch which will offer our personal banking customers a one stop shop for advice on all major life events. Branch banking and our ATM network will remain a crit- ical part of our service offering to customers," he said. HSBC pre-tax profits down to €10.4 million Joe Grima