BOV said that at close of business on Thursday, the 6th of December, it had sold or received orders for over 11,000 retail euro starter kits. “The response from the business community has been outstanding - a clear indication that people are now actively preparing for the adoption of the euro as Malta’s currency as from 1st January 2008,” said John Cassar Torreggiani, Executive Head responsible for the Euro Changeover Programme at Bank of Valletta.

Mr. Cassar Torreggiani said that the Bank is expecting a similar strong response from the general public as from this coming Monday, the 10th of December, when the euro starter kits for the general public will start to be sold from all BOV branches. “We are aware that there is a lot of interest amongst the general public to purchase these starter kits which contain the Maltese euro coins,” added Mr. Cassar Torreggiani.

Mr. Cassar Torreggiani took the opportunity to remind the general public that all bank accounts denominated in Maltese lira, including overdraft and loan accounts, will be automatically converted to euro, free of charge, on the 1st January 2008 at the irrevocably fixed conversion rate (0.4293). “The best way for people to ensure that they have smooth currency changeover, therefore, is to ensure that they deposit all their surplus Maltese lira banknotes or coins well prior to the 1st January 2008,” concluded Mr. Cassar Torreggiani