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02.07.2020 2 NEWS FROM PAGE 1 Speaking to BusinessToday, Valletta Cruise Port CEO Stephen Xuereb said that the situation regarding expect- ed cruise liner calls to Malta would be clearer come August. Asked how many cruise ships could be expected to visit in the coming months, Xuereb said it was very difficult to say at the moment. "It's still touch-and-go. e cruise in- dustry is delicate, and it needs to plan long-term, drawing up itineraries and making arrangements with countries," Xuereb said. In the meantime, Xuereb said that Valletta Cruise Port had formulated all needed COVID-19 safety protocols. "ese have been sent to the health au- thorities for approval," he highlighted. Xuereb said that Malta was looking at countries including Italy, Germany and Spain in terms of places where cruise ships could come from. "Such countries are the most synonymous with cruises." In terms of the number of passengers which could visit Malta on their cruise, he reiterated that it was too early to give an estimation. "It's too early to say. As a cruise port, we're now open for busi- nesses, but the industry itself is still planning its itineraries." is newspaper also reached out to SMSMondial, one of the leading local cruise travel agencies, with the com- pany's executive manager Paul Pizzuto confirming Xuereb's comments that ship operators would be restarting cruises next month after months of be- ing at a standstill. "Cruise lines are planning to restart their cruises gradually, and largely as from around mid-August onwards, with temporary itineraries which reflect destinations that are deemed to be safe to travel to," Pizzuto said. "Bookings for these cruises have not yet started since they are not yet on sale, but shall be put on the market in the coming days. Cruise lines are expected to revert to their original programmes sometime around October," he said. Pizzuto also underlined that bookings for next year have kept coming in. "Cruise bookings from October on- wards – especially for 2021 have never stopped, but they obviously did very much slow down and sales are expected to pick up as from autumn." Questioned on which ports the travel agency's cruises could be calling at, Piz- zuto said these might include Greece or Italy. "Ports for these temporary itiner- aries are still being finalised, but they are expected to cover either Greece or Italy. More news shall be available in the coming days," he said. "Prices are expected to be very attrac- tive, even though due to social distanc- ing requirements cruise ships are ex- pected to carry a maximum of around 40% of their normal capacity – this means about 100 sq.m of onboard pub- lic space per passenger," Pizzuto added. NSO statistics show that, in the first three months of 2020, Malta received nine cruise liner calls, with over 40,000 passengers, the vast majority of whom were transit passengers. Ports were closed on 10 March, as the country strived to limit the number of COVID-19 cases locally. In 2018 and 2019 respectively, around 78,000 and 70,000 cruise ship passen- gers visited Malta. Earlier this week, Tourism Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli said that the is- land was expecting to welcome 700,00 tourist arrivals by the end of the year. is is a far cry from recent highs, with Malta having attracted a record 2.7 mil- lion tourists last year. Cruise liner industry still to finalise itineraries Valletta Cruise Port CEO Stephen Xuereb MATTHEW VELLA THE Maltese financial regulator has withdrawn the licence of Satabank plc, after millions of criminal pro- ceeds were suspected of having passed through the St Julian's bank. Ernst & Young, the competent person appointed by the MFSA, remains in control of Satabank since it was grant- ed full powers in October 2018 to over- see withdrawals from the bank. "e Satabank case involved a great deal of forensic and analytical work apart from ongoing coordination be- tween all the relevant authorities in- cluding the FIAU and Central Bank of Malta," MFSA chief executive office Jo- seph Cuschieri told MaltaToday. "e approach taken by the MFSA and FIAU with respect to the controlled re- lease of funds ensured that suspicious funds were flagged and reported to the FIAU accordingly through STRs while funds which were identified as 'not sus- picious' were paid." e controlled process for the return of customer deposits will not proceed further, save for various exceptions. EY will continue to process custom- er files where complete information required for the return of funds pro- cess was received by 30 June 2020. EY will not be able to process files where pending queries remain outstanding as at 30 June, or new and additional infor- mation submitted after 30 June. Customers who have been requested to provide payment instruction details by the competent person are to submit this information at their earliest but not later than 15 July. Upon its appointment, EY collect- ed data and carried out customer risk analysis as required for the purposes of understanding the assets and liabil- ities of the bank. A controlled process for the return of customer funds was carried out on the basis of analysis conducted by EY upon submission of documentation by customers. EY also conducted customer reviews and where appropriate compiled and filed suspicious transactions reports (STRs) as required and responded to requests made by the relevant authori- ties including the FIAU and the Police. e Financial Intelligence Analy- sis Unit had fined Satabank a report- ed €3.5 million for various regulatory breaches. e police have since been involved, investigating what could be billions in euros which passed through the bank's payment channels. All 12,000 of Sa- tabank's accounts were frozen by the MFSA, with controlled releases effect- ed by EY. is was the first time in Maltese banking history that the MFSA, in co- ordination with the Central Bank of Malta and the FIAU, had taken such action against a retail and commercial bank. e joint inspection is combing through each account to ensure that any questionable funds do not leave the Paceville bank. Satabank offered an innovative on- line payment channel which allowed small peer-to-peer payments to be made. Prior to setting up in Malta, Sa- tabank's Bulgarian co-owner Christo Georgiev ran an e-money business in Luxembourg. A self-described pioneer of innovative payment solutions who has worked in the fintech sector since 2000, according to a biography on one of his company's websites, Georgiev also owns Bulgarian iCard AD, and the Liechtenstein-based myPos AG. Satabank has protested exorbitant rates it was being charged by the "com- petent persons" appointed to take control of its bank, in a formal protest lodged with the Malta Financial Ser- vices Tribunal. Satabank said it was paying mem- bers of the international team up to €689 an hour. "In the context of a small bank that is a Maltese-licensed and regulated credit institution, the above rates are exorbitant and unreasonable. [ey] are clearly not in the interest of the bank, nor of its depositors, em- ployees and shareholders. "If such rates were to be maintained unabated, the fees of the competent person will inevitably deplete the bank's capital…" Satabank license withdrawn by MFSA

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