Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1143967
18.07.19 3 NEWS THE Malta Development Bank (MDB) has signed a EUR 45 mil- lion global loan agreement with the KfW Group. MDB will use the funds to promote SME (Small and Medi- um-sized Enterprises) fi nance in Malta with special emphasis on SME investments. SMEs in Malta will benefi t from the favourable fi nancing conditions off ered by KfW and MDB. is facility aims to address the market gap in access to fi nance for SMEs. MDB will mobilise the funding by direct loan agree- ments with SMEs in conjunction with domestic banks that will be participating in a new scheme that the MDB plans to launch soon, comprising co-fi nancing and a partial guarantee. is loan agreement will con- tribute to deepen and extend the existing business relation- ship between KfW and MDB which started during the bank´s incorporation process. e global loan with KfW is MDB´s fi rst funding transaction. KfW was set up in 1948 by the German government and is one of the world's leading promo- tional banks with assets of al- most €500 billion. Prof. Josef Bonnici, Chairman of Malta Development Bank noted that "SMEs are one of the top priorities of the MDB as they ensure growth, innovation, jobs and the long-term competitive- ness of the Maltese economy. is global loan will enable MDB to fulfi l its mandate by providing the necessary support to SMEs in Malta to overcome the persis- tent diffi culties in fi nancing new investment. We are convinced that this bilateral operation pro- vides an excellent basis for fur- ther collaboration between KfW and MDB in the future." Malta Development Bank and KfW Group offer SME financing in Malta FROM PAGE 1 Falcon Funds has also sued TAM in Malta, as well as its chief promoter Emil Amir Ing- manson, real name Max Serwin, a Swedish businessman accused of having been the benefi ciary of Falcon cash invested in unse- cured investments. Falcon Funds' directors accused TAM of having invested over €10 million of savers' cash in what turned out to be an 'advance' to Emil Ingmanson and his London company. Also included in the protest are securiti- sation company Argentarius Group and its founder Andreas Woelfl , as well as subsid- iaries and affi liates Argentarius ETI Man- agement Limited, ETI Securities Plc, Secu- ritisation Consultancy Limited, and Delta1 Securities Plc, clients, and business partners – companies used to 'hide' the investment of Falcon cash in illiquid investments through ETIs. Argentarius, which provides low-cost, reg- ulation-free investment funds known as Ex- change Traded Instruments (ETIs) left Malta and is now operating in the Cayman Islands as iMaps Capital, apparently as a result of its legal and regulatory problems in Malta. Bank of Valletta itself has been served with judicial letters fi led by the Swedish Pensions Agency, dated 30 June 2017 and more recent- ly 3 April 2019, through which the agency is holding the bank responsible for any losses and damages it may have suff ered with its in- vestment in Falcon Funds. "Whilst the Bank denied, and continues to categorically deny, any responsibility for these alleged losses and damages, the Bank is formally holding you responsible for any losses and damages suff ered and/or that which it may suff er as a result of and/or in connection with any of your acts, omissions, conduct, and/or involvement in relation to Falcon Funds SICAV p.l.c. and/or the sub- funds' investments and is placing you in dolo, mora and culpa for all eff ects and purposes at law," BOV said in its letter. Falcon Funds director Tonio Fenech and his colleague were given an offi cial reprimand by the fi nancial services regulator, which also prohibited the directors from accepting any new appointments which require MFSA ap- proval in entities or for activities licensed by the MFSA for a period of two years. Temple Asset Management, run by John Farrell, was fi ned a total of €612,000 over breaches of 23 diff erent standard licence conditions and had its licence suspended. Among the breaches, Temple was said to have not cooperated with the MFSA in an open and honest manner, had numerous re- porting failures, failed to formulate forecasts and analysis of illiquid assets, due diligence of investments, and did not ensure measures to avoid confl icts of interest. The 158 respondents identified in the legal notices are domiciled in Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, England, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Switzerland, and the USA and comprise the following: Emil Amir Ingmanson sive Max Ser- win, Dzemo Neslanovic, Afram Gergeo, Reditum SA, Agate Assets SA, Astartes Sverige AB, Viceroy Industrials SA, QV Capital AB, Oxxy Technoloġies Plc, for- merly known as Oxxy Group Plc; Asama AB, formerly known as Strategi Placering i Skandinavien AB, Hic Salta AB, former- ly known as Konsumentkraft Norden AB, Exane Finance, Emma Amanda Lid- berg, Jelena Saalismaa, Åsa Ylva Magda- lena Hildestål, Björn Andreas Svansberg, Lars Anders Daniel Egon Landelius, Anna Ruth Marilyn Lee Winter, Jack Ali- son, Wilhelm Per Anesater, Joakim Gab- ay, Hessam Esfahani Moghaddam, David Ulf Axel Fredriksson, Mahnaz Chou- bini, Par Christer Olle Abrahamsson, Philip Beril Eriksson, Lars Martin Inge Lindergren, Bertil Lennart Johansson, Karl Jonas Johansson, eodora Gergeo, John Anthony Farrell, Christian Grob, Median Trust SA, Commerzbank AG, Mark Bishop, BNP Paribas Arbitrage Issuance BV, BNP Paribas Issuance BV, Daniel Ivanier, Catherine Benoît, Ber- trand Léonard, Nicolas Chanut, Emma- nuelle Bobin Benoist, Stéphanie Bianco, Vincent Rouvière, Olivier Stéphanopoli, Pierre Lasserre, Marc Le Guern, Robert Arthur Arnold, Barbaros Okten, Peter Corner, Damste Sinninghe, Laurent Be- lik, Danielle Delnoije, Olivier Lansac, Eric-Jan Van de Laar, Salvatore Rosato, Catherine Trapani, Ricardo Incani, Dr Marcus Johannes Chromik, Stephan Engels, Ralph Michael Mandel, Michael Reuther, Martin Zielke, Frank Annus- cheit, Markus Beumer, Martin Blessing, Stefan Schmittmann, Jochen Klösges, Ulrich Sieber, Eric Strutz, Dr. Achim Kassow, Wolfgang Hartmann, Bernd Knobloch, Nicholas Teller, Klaus-Pe- ter Müller, Klaus M. Patig, Andreas de Maizière, Mehmet Dalman, Stephan Blohm, Peter Schruden, Rolf Caspers, Heike Kubica, Anja Lakoudi, Fabian Frieg, Claus Walter Bering, Yves Stock- lausen, Ina Mangelsdorf, Friedhelm Von Zieten, Steven John Brown, Charlotte Lahaije-Hultman, Peter Lundin, Zuzan- na Zielinski-Rousseau, Ajit Singh Rai, Nadine Gloesener, Hugo Pieraggi, Lei Peijing, Lars-Erik Magnusson, Dick Ko- ster, Katia Von Hoyer, Aston Manage- ment (Cyprus) Limited, Dimitar Dimi- trov, Kazamia Σteλioσ, White November Corporate Services (Cyprus) Limited, Avalon Capital AG, Julien Schoenlaub, Bekim Zemoski, Rock Energy AS, Intex Resources ASA, Neil Grobberlaar, Pe- ter Gerard De Beyer, Kenneth omas Hopkins, Derrick embinkosi Vusu- muzi Msibi, Norman William om- son, Robert William Baker, Leon Dyk- man, Mark Angus Barnes, Mthetheleli Lancelot Buya, Christoff er Andreas Hel- lenas Christenson-Roed, Andre Daw- id Coetzer, Craig Graham Davidson, Ronald Alexander Den Besten, Akhter Alli Deshmukh, Eric Du Plessis, Garth Peter Elliott, Shane Trevor Ferguson, Christine Ann Glover, Christian Gou- ws, Charl Hendrik Kock, Deepak Malik, Tshepidi G Moremong, Arumugam Pa- dachie, Bruce Aubrey Schenk, Heather Gail Van Heerden, Hercules Christiaan Van Heerden, Pieter Willemse Van Heerden, Johannes Van Rooyen, Brian Oscar Weiss, Michael Neville Wilkins, Real People Investment Holdings Lim- ited, Vaneck Vectors ETF Trust, former- ly known as Market Vectors ETF Trust and formerly known as Market Vectors – Gold Miners ETF; Jan F. van Eck, John Walter Christmas, Roger Buckley, An- tonio Fenech, Joseph Xuereb, Ian Zam- mit, Jacques Ellul Soler, Andreas Wolfl , Sylvan Sapiano, Commonwealth Secu- ritisation Plc, Delta1 Securities Plc, Lars Beitnes, ETI Securities Plc, Temple Asset Management Limited, RES Malta Limit- ed, Securitisation Consultancy Limited, Argentarius ETI Management Limited, and Michael Portanier. Swedish Pensions Agency still holds BoV responsible for losses Former Nationalist MP Tonio Fenech (left) and Emil Amir Ingmanson