Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1053035
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 NOVEMBER 2018 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "It is absurd and incongruous that the competent person should charge the bank at the exorbitant and unreason- able hourly rates… depleting the bank's capital and reserves in the process, while thousands of depositors are una- ble to access their funds," the bank said. Satabank said the international team rates range from €269 an hour for a sen- ior official, to €689 an hour for partners. Managers are paid €372 and senior managers get €535. "In the context of a small bank that is a Maltese-licensed and regulated credit institution, the above rates are exorbi- tant and unreasonable. [They] are clear- ly not in the interest of the bank, nor of its depositors, employees and share- holders. If such rates were to be main- tained unabated, the fees of the compe- tent person will inevitably deplete the bank's capital…" Satabank said it had no objection to hourly rates indicated by EY's "Malta team" – whose rates start at €90 an hour and are capped at €240 – but said the "international team" rates were "an abuse of discretion since such rates are not objectively justifiable and are mani- festly unfair." The bank has also accused the MFSA of making it impossible for Satabank to demonstrate its compliance with MFSA requirements and anti-money launder- ing rules, by taking just five days from the appointment of the competent per- son to formally shut down the bank's trading activities. "Prior to the [MFSA's directive] of 20 October, the bank continued to meet its financial prudential requirements, was liquid and operating well above its minimum regulatory capital ratios. The bank's liquidity was adequate to ensure normal day-to-day running and opera- tions." Satabank accused the MFSA of creat- ing confusion in the market "and fear and suspicion in the eyes of the general public and depositors as to the bank's liquidity." "Needless to say, preventing custom- ers to operate their accounts in an or- dinary manner created speculation and uncertainty on the bank's financial soundness and liquidity," Satabank said, after clients were prevented from ac- cessing their online banking platform. Satabank offered some 5,000 clients an innovative online and e-money plat- form but since the MFSA's directives, various companies have been unable to affect withdrawals and pay employees' salaries. Clients will hold a protest in Valletta today, and said they will be meeting at different locations throughout the week, including Satabank, EY, the MF- SA offices, as well as the finance min- istry, the Office of the Prime Minister, and the President's palace. "We appreciate the huge work EY is doing to check more than 5,000 cus- tomers, but we do not agree on the pri- orities," Francesco Trimnoli, an Italian lawyer resident in Malta who runs the banking clients association Atusbuf, said. "We think that EY has to focus first on the employees who get their salaries on Satabank account and unfreeze it if the account complies with a normal employees' account. This can be carried out in less than 24 days! Too much for those who cannot buy food, but even for the SMEs who have their business as their only source of profit, as well for those who have very few transactions on their account with a small volume, it is easy to be found and unfrozen." Bank says exorbitant rates will deplete reserves "The rates are an abuse of discretion since they are not objectively justifiable and are manifestly unfair"