Anna Mallia | Wednesday, 12 November 2008

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Puttinu cares

I am not doubting for a single moment the sterling work done by the Puttinu Cares initiative, but I feel I must protest at the way the media and the Prime Minister’s wife kept silent on the way that Puttinu Cares was treated by HSBC (Malta) plc.
Of course the initiative is a very noble one: the inauguration of the three apartments in Sutton in the UK, to accommodate parents of Maltese children who travel to London for cancer treatment, has long been needed and it is a pity that such an initiative had to be taken by this NGO, and not by the government, keeping in mind that the statistics show that least 10 children contract cancer annually.
Of course it was nice to see Mrs Kate Gonzi, the Prime Minister’s wife and Mrs Michelle Muscat, the wife of the leader of the Opposition, attending the ceremony together with the Archbishop. I must however mention that people who were present reported to yours truly that HSBC offered to provide transport only to Mrs Gonzi and the Archbishop, and Mrs Muscat had to walk it in the rain to the building where the inauguration was held. Maybe this was a slip on the part of HSBC’s public relations department and it is a pity that Mrs Muscat let this go unattended.
But what was most insulting was that Mrs Gonzi was reported as saying at the inauguration that the apartments were also the fruit of the solidarity of HSBC Malta. I question where this generosity from HSBC came from when the bank lent money to Puttinu Cares at a commercial rate of 6.2%, as if it was dealing with a commercial entity. I am sure that Mrs Gonzi was not informed about this and neither was Mrs Muscat, because if they were, they would have mentioned on our behalf how hurt we are that HSBC gave the loan for this noble cause at such a high interest rate.
Mrs Gonzi is the chairman of the HSBC Cares for Children’s Fund and her role is to make sure that the Fund gets the best. I know that Puttinu Cares was in no position to shop around because it is bound to go to HSBC for a loan, but it is not fair either on HSBC to treat Puttinu as if it were opening a hotel in the south of London. People who work in other banks tell us that they would have given Puttinu a better interest rate and it is not fair to try to portray the image that HSBC is being generous in this regard.
I am sorry to say that the media did not mention anything about this either. It just reported what HSBC wanted it to report, without raising a shadow of a doubt on the generosity of the bank and at the way the Archbishop of Malta and the wife of the Leader of the Opposition were treated whilst in London.
Dr Victor Calvagna, chairman of Puttinu Cares, does sterling work and he has dedicated his life to these children. But I cannot understand how in the inauguration he thanked HSBC for facilitating the purchase of the apartments, both financially and in terms of better conditions for loan payments. He was even reported as saying that once the balance over the three apartments was settled, Puttinu Cares would be able to make similar arrangements for adults receiving treatment for cancer in the UK.
No information was provided by the media as to how much money was loaned by HSBC to Puttinu Cares but we all know that with the rate of interest agreed upon between them, it is always very difficult to settle a loan from any bank, let alone when you have more than 6% interest down your throat.
So I find Dr Calvagna’s statement very optimistic and if Puttinu is really serious in providing similar arrangements for adults receiving treatment for cancer in the UK, he must, for the patients’ sakes, shop around the banks and other financial institutions in order to fetch the best deal.
Paying 6.2% interest on a noble cause such as the treatment of cancer patients is very high and it is not fair to give the public the false perception that the project came about thanks to the generosity of HSBC, when there is nothing generous in lending money at normal interest.
I know that you can tell me that the normal rate is 7 to 7.5% and it was nice of HSBC to reduce the normal rate by 1 to 1.5 %. But I expected HSBC to be more generous with our sick children and give them a better deal. I spoke to people who work in another bank in Malta and they told me that for the cause they would have given a 4.25% interest rate.
In Malta the base rate, after the European Central Bank lowered it, should have been reduced to 3.25%. The local banks were still procrastinating days after the interest rates were reduced by the ECB, and I am surprised how the Central Bank did not chase them into abiding by the order sooner. This means that a normal loan in Malta would have between 6.25% whereas in the case of a house loan, and provided you meet all the criteria, the interest loan will be between 4 and 4.75%.
I do not know who negotiated on behalf of Puttinu or the HSBC Cares for Children’s Fund, and I do not know if the negotiators entered into a fixed rate of interest irrespective of what the European Central Bank says. I do not know either if the loan was in Pound Sterling or in Euro, but what I do know is that the Bank of England has reduced the interest rate from 4.5% to 3%.
If Puttinu and the Fund opted for a British loan, it is not fair to make us believe that this came as a result of the generosity of HSBC Malta when the interest rate offered was far from generous!

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Can anyone tell me why the British government has ordered that Maltese passengers flying to the UK ought to give all their passport details to their travel agent or their airline? Didn’t they tell us that there are no borders for the EU citizens and that the identity card is a travelling document?

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