To:
Mr Valdis Dombrovskis Vice President responsible for Financial Stability, Financial Services
and Capital Markets Union, European Commission
Ms Vera Jourova Commissioner for Justice, Gender Equality and Customers, European Commission Mr Andrea Enria, Chairman, European Banking Authority
Mr Adam Farkas, Executive Director, European Banking Authority
Subject: Frozen bank accounts at Satabank Malta
Sliema, 10 November 2018
Dear Commissioners,
dear Chairman and Executive Director,
On 20 October the Malta Financial Service Authority (MFSA) by
administrative measure effectively froze all accounts at Satabank, a small
international bank operating in Malta.[1]
The MFSA appointed Ernst and Young (EY) to administer the bank’s assets, and
later allowed a controlled release of customer deposits. This has left
businesses and workers in Malta unable to access funds, without any prior
notice. The MFSA also announced that any balances of electronic money held are
not deemed to be eligible deposits covered by the Depositor Compensation Scheme,
effectively leaving Satabank customers without any protection.
Many Maltese retail customers had turned to Satabank due to difficulties
with setting up bank accounts with the major Maltese banks, including partly
public-owned Bank of Valletta (BOV), which still require a high bureaucratic
burden to open bank accounts for non-Maltese citizens, in breach of EU law
principles of free movement of persons and capitals.
Three weeks have now passed since the freezing of current accounts in
Satabank, without any communication to its customers. No timeline has been
released by Satabank or MFSA about the steps ahead. Alarm has been raised among
others by the Chamber of SMEs (GRTU), which noted that many customers still
faced grave financial and cashflow difficulties, particularly in the areas of
Msida, Gzira, Sliema and St. Julian’s. Customers are left to fend off for
themselves, and many have had to rely on support of families or friends in
order to access cash even for their basic living expenses. Small businesses are
being hampered from operating, unable to pay ages or rents, and may not be able
to submit VAT documents on time. Satabank customers remain unable to open
accounts in other major Maltese banks.
In this regard, allow me to ask you:
- what are the Commission and the European Banking Authority doing to
ensure that all Satabank customers may regain access to their bank accounts in
the shortest possible time, at least for a minimum withdrawal amount in order
to cater for their living needs?
- what are the Commission and the European Banking Authority doing to
ensure that Maltese banks do not unjustifiably discriminate against non-Maltese
EU citizens by requiring them additional administrative burden and taking
unreasonably long time to be able to open a bank account?
- what are the Commission and the European Banking Authority doing to protect the employment rights of Satabank workers?
- what are the Commission and the European Banking Authority doing to protect the employment rights of Satabank workers?
Kindest regards,
Dr Michael Briguglio
