MALTA'S UNREGULATED €2bn LETTERBOX BANK: NO EMPLOYEES, AND A DIRECTOR FROM PILATUS BANK

Finantia Malta Ltd., is a local subsidiary of a foreign financial institution, Banco Finantia Group. It has zero employees or officers, but shows assets of €2bn. Here is what was said about the bank at the recent Daphne Public Inquiry, as summarized by the Independent:

"Azzopardi expresses surprise that the Pilatus director, Armin Eckermann, who gave the advice to sue Daphne Caruana Galizia, and who was required to approve all prospective clients, was a Director of  Finantia Malta Ltd.,  a company based in Malta. 'We have a director of a money laundering machine, who has ruined our reputation, and we will all suffer for it, being declared Fit and Proper by the MFSA. How did the MFSA declare him fit and proper ?" [Independent 1 July, 2020]

Banco Finantia lists the Malta location of Finantia Malta on its website, but an extensive search of Malta's MFSA website has failed to find the Bank as a regulated or licensed entity. See https://www.mfsa.mt/financial-services-register/  Please explain how an unlicensed entity, which pays no taxes in Malta, and is supervised by an individual who does not, due to his experiences at Pilatus bank and elsewhere, fit the requirement of a fit and proper person, is allowed to operate in Malta ? How many other letterbox companies exist and thrive there, totally outside any supervision or regulation ?

Armin Eckermann, ex-Pilatus Bank Dir.

No wonder both the European Union and the United States have expressed not only their concern, but intention to take immediate action, regarding what is clearly a jurisdiction without any effective AML/CFT regulatory compliance.