Satabank has lost its banking license, the European Central Bank has declared following a recommendation from the Malta Financial Services Authority.

In a statement, the MFSA said that it had appointed  Ernst & Young Limited to control the entity under the relative provisions of the Banking Act.

No consumers’ deposits will continue to be returned, although EY will continue to process the files of consumers who asked to withdraw their funds by the end of June.

EY will not be able to process files that were considered pending issues by the end of June and will not be able to revise new or additional information.

Consumers looking for instruction on payments must submit this information to EY no later than 15th July.

Satabank was first forced to cancel its operation due to serious concerns that it facilitated money laundering. All 12,000 Satabnak accounts were frozen by the MFSA in October 2018, with close to 300 reports of suspicious transaction worth over €130 million getting flagged.

Christo Georgiev, the Bulgarian owner of Satabank, has faced allegations of embarking on a SLAPP (a lawsuit intended to silence critics by burdening them with an unaffordable high cost of a legal defence) campaign. Georgiev has threatened both Manuel Delia and the Times of Malta with such lawsuits.

For more information, visit the Malta Financial Services Authority site or call on Freephone 8007 4924. Any communication with Satabank is to be made via email on [email protected]

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