Updated at 11.55am, adds Satabank shareholders statement
Corporate clients of Satabank are to be offered bridge loans to help them pay their bills while their funds at the troubled bank remain frozen.
In a statement on Friday morning, the financial regulator said that a hardship fund, managed by Malta Enterprise, would be made available from Monday November 26 to all corporate clients of the bank with employees living in Malta.
Funds must be used to cover verifiable wage bills, with other "time-critical” operating expenses considered on a case-by-case basis. Loans can be used to cover all qualifying expenses dating back to October 20, when the bank’s activities were halted.
To qualify for a bridge loan, a company must have paid its operating expenses through their Satabank account in the past, have a "substantive nexus" to the Maltese economy and have enough capital to cover the loan locked up at the bank.
Corporate clients have three months to apply for a bridge loan through the newly-created fund.
Satabank was ordered to halt all deposits and withdrawals in October, after an anti-money laundering inspection by MFSA and FIAU investigators revealed concerns.
The sudden freeze has infuriated depositors, who say they have been left on the brink of despair and with no means to pay their bills or access their money.
Individual depositors with balances of up to €15,000 will be able to withdraw their funds from the bank as of Monday, the financial regulator said on Thursday.
One of the bank's corporate clients has also filed a judicial protest against the bank and financial regulator, arguing that its fund freeze is illegal.
Satabank shareholders seek revocation of MFSA directives
Meanwhile, Satabank shareholder Signia Holdings Ltd said in a statement on Friday that the competent person was charging the bank up to €689 per hour for their work.
They said in a statement that they were not opposed to the appointment of the competent person, but to the decision of the MFSA to agree to such exorbitant payment rates which would harm the bank and its depositors.
Signia said that on November 13, together with Satabank plc, it filed an appeal before the Financial Services Tribunal in Malta asking the court to revoke and reverse the MFSA directives dated October 15 and 20.
After the appointment of the competent person on October 15, the MFSA issued another directive on October 20 which resulted in the bank effectively ceasing to trade and the freezing of all customer accounts.
Signia said that prior to this directive, the bank was meeting its prudential financial requirements including liquidity coverage ratios comfortably.
“Between the 15th October and 20th October 2018, no explanation was provided why the directive ceasing trading activity was required when other measures had been put in place. We remain unaware of any reasons for this action,” the shareholders said.