iGaming Payment Solutions
Bank of Valletta Review
Is It the Right Bank for Your iGaming Business?
Bank of Valletta, Malta's largest bank, accepts online gaming companies case by case after enhanced due diligence and turns gambling individuals away.
- Trustpilot
- 1.8/5 (16)
- Founded
- Headquarters
- Malta
- Regulator
- MFSA
MaltaQuick Info
- Type
- Bank
- Class
- Own license
- Regulator
- MFSA
- License
- BOV
- HQ
- Malta
- Pricing
- Published
Our Verdict: Should You Bank With Bank of Valletta?
Final assessment for iGaming operators, studios and affiliates
Tier 2: on a regulator's register and open to gambling businesses
Summary
Bank of Valletta has held a Maltese banking license since July 1995, issued by the Central Bank of Malta under the Banking Act 1994, and has been supervised by the MFSA since 2002 and directly by the ECB as a Significant Institution since November 2014. Listed on the Malta Stock Exchange since 1992, the bank is 25.0% owned by the Government of Malta, which holds another 3.36% through Malta Government Investments and the National Development and Social Fund. Amalgamated Investments SICAV holds 5.56% and Slingshot Global SICAV 5.04%, while UniCredit sold its whole stake in 2025. A gambling business that clears the bank's review gets a Maltese IBAN in its own name, SEPA and SWIFT, FX, corporate cards and card acquiring through BOV Accept, which admits online gaming and betting only where the bank explicitly authorizes the merchant. The account comes only after enhanced due diligence on a restricted category, at a bank the FIAU fined in December 2021 over its own beneficial-ownership checks.
Strongest Point
The IBAN, the corporate cards and the merchant acquiring all belong to one ECB-supervised bank, so an operator can hold its operating account and take card deposits at the same regulated counterparty. In its BOV Accept card acceptance terms the bank sets supplemental conditions for special merchant categories and defines a gambling transaction, which is the paperwork of a bank that processes the category.
Key Limitation
Getting in is the hard part, because online gaming sits on the restricted list and every application goes through enhanced due diligence against criteria the bank keeps to itself. An approved operator still has no gaming tariff to price against, and BOV Accept sets acquiring reserves by the bank's view of the operator's risk. The FIAU fined the bank in December 2021 for failing to determine the beneficial owners of corporate customers and has taken no further measure against it since, so ownership is what the bank now checks hardest. Staying in is not guaranteed either, since in October 2019 the bank began a de-risking exercise under a risk profile agreed with the ECB and wrote to gaming licensees such as YoBetIt that they had two months to move their funds. It later conceded that some of those letters went to clients who should never have received them. The bank's 1.8 Trustpilot rating on 16 reviews comes from retail customers.
Recommendation
Apply to Bank of Valletta if you run a Malta-licensed operation and want the operating account and card acquiring at a bank rather than an EMI. Build the beneficial-ownership file down to the last natural person before you apply, and budget for BOV Accept reserves tied to your risk grade. Keep an EMI account open beside it while the application runs and after approval, since the bank has dropped gaming clients before. FinXP, a Maltese EMI with Kindred Group as a client since 2018, fits that role.
Pros
- A licensed credit institution since 1995 and the only bank in this section, supervised directly by the ECB since 2014
- Company deposits covered by the Maltese Depositor Compensation Scheme up to EUR 100,000 per depositor
- Gaming companies can apply, with Gambling / Betting as a business category on the client application form
- Maltese IBAN, SEPA, SWIFT, FX, corporate cards and BOV Accept acquiring from one bank
Cons
- Gaming clients accepted case by case after enhanced due diligence, against criteria the bank keeps to itself
- FIAU fine of EUR 2,636,400 in December 2021 for failing to determine the beneficial owners of 2,442 corporate customers
- No gaming tariff, with acquiring reserves set by the bank's risk grading
- Gave gaming licensees two months to move their funds in a 2019 de-risking exercise
Ready to open the conversation with Bank of Valletta?
On Record
1 enforcement or dispute item an operator should read before opening an account
- Dec 17, 2021. The FIAU fined Bank of Valletta EUR 2,636,400 for failing to determine the beneficial owners of 2,442 corporate customers. source
Gambling Policy
Whether the company serves iGaming businesses, on what terms, and which licenses and client types it accepts
“Operations of gaming or betting establishments that occur on the internet”
Our reading
Bank of Valletta keeps online gaming and betting on its restricted list rather than the prohibited one, so it decides on each gaming company case by case. The bank applies enhanced due diligence to specific gaming companies and prohibits relationships with professional poker players and gambling individuals. Applicants pick Gambling / Betting as the business category on the client application form.
Licenses named as accepted
Client types named
License, Read in the Register
Entity, license type and number as the regulator prints them, with the date we read the entry
- Malta Financial Services AuthorityRead , register page
BANK OF VALLETTA P.L.C. · Bank · BOV
Credit Institutions, Licence Authorised (since Jul 14, 1995)
- Legal entity
- Bank of Valletta p.l.c., C 2833
- Headquarters
- Malta
- Founded
- 1974
- Class
- Own license
Safeguarding of client money
Bank of Valletta is a credit institution, so a client balance is a bank deposit rather than safeguarded e-money. The Maltese Depositor Compensation Scheme covers deposits at the bank up to EUR 100,000 per depositor, company balances included, and any amount above that limit is a claim on the bank.
The Account
What the operator actually gets on the account, and what it costs to open
- IBAN in your company's nameYes
Dedicated account, not a pooled reference
- SEPAYes
SEPA
- SEPA InstantNo
Not stated by the provider
- SWIFTYes
Maltese EUR IBAN with FX, other account currencies not stated
- CardsYes
Corporate cards on the account
- APINo
Dashboard only
- Bulk payoutsNo
Not stated by the provider
- Crypto or stablecoinsNo
None on the account
- Card acquiring as wellYes
Hybrid: the cashier side is rated in the PSP catalog, not here
| Feature | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|
| IBAN in your company's name | Yes | Dedicated account, not a pooled reference |
| SEPA | Yes | SEPA |
| SEPA Instant | No | Not stated by the provider |
| SWIFT | Yes | Maltese EUR IBAN with FX, other account currencies not stated |
| Cards | Yes | Corporate cards on the account |
| API | No | Dashboard only |
| Bulk payouts | No | Not stated by the provider |
| Crypto or stablecoins | No | None on the account |
| Card acquiring as well | Yes | Hybrid: the cashier side is rated in the PSP catalog, not here |
Onboarding
- Non-EU companies
- Not stated
- Time to open
- Not stated
- Licenses named
- Not stated
Pricing, published
Bank of Valletta publishes general tariff sheets but has no gaming tariff, and BOV Accept sets acquiring reserves by the bank's assessment of the merchant's risk level.
Named Clients and Reputation
Who vouches for the provider on the record, and what its own customers say
Named iGaming clients
None named on a first-party source. Every operator using this provider does so without a public reference.
Reputation
94% one-star, read Sep 1, 2026.
Not to be confused with: Valletta Pay (VallettaPay Limited, Liverpool) is a separate company with no connection to the bank.
Frequently Asked Questions
3 questions about Bank of Valletta
Yes, case by case. Online gaming and betting sit on the bank's restricted list, so a gaming company opens an account only after enhanced due diligence and the bank's approval. Professional poker players and gambling individuals cannot become customers at all.
Only up to EUR 100,000. Bank of Valletta is a credit institution, so a balance there is a bank deposit, and the Maltese Depositor Compensation Scheme covers company deposits up to that limit per depositor. Above that the float is a claim on the bank. An EMI such as FinXP keeps client funds apart from its own money at regulated credit institutions and never lends them out, so a large float there rests on that segregation. Access is the other difference, because an operator has to clear the bank's gaming review before the account opens.
Only where the bank explicitly authorizes it in the merchant agreement, since online gaming and betting sit in the restricted category. Reserves depend on the bank's view of the merchant's risk level, and BOV Accept has no gaming rate on its tariff.