GRTU raises concerns about the Maltese banking sector in meeting with Prime Minister

GRTU Malta Chamber of SMEs officials and specialised industry representatives held a meeting with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services Silvio Schembri to discuss the banking situation in Malta.

The GRTU lamented the unprecedented situation businesses are experiencing in relation to the banking sector.

GRTU president Paul Abela said that business was being lost on a daily basis.

“GRTU does not expect things to go the way they were in the past but what can be helped should be helped,” he said.

Corporate services representatives explained what a challenge doing business has become with the current situation in the Maltese banking sector, both for them and their clients. Clients were finding it difficult to understand why they could open a business in Malta but could not have a Maltese bank account.

“The banking situation is leading investors to question Malta’s reputation and investors have now started to question if it is worth investing in Malta,” Abela told Muscat. “The banking situation is pushing good value investment, investment that the Government and the private sector has worked hard to attract. Why should opening a bank account take close to a year, even for sectors that are considered low risk?”

The GRTU accused the banking sector of lacking, across the board, clearly defined procedures for client onboarding. It said businesses cannot operate in a limbo without knowing whether or when they would be given an account or if their application would be refused.

Clients and members who traditionally did business with the local banks were now being turned away and asked to close their accounts.
GRTU stressed the need for more banks to operate in Malta as this would ease the current deadlock.

Moreover it emphasised the need of a more harmonised application procedure amongst local banks in order to structure the process and make it accessible and clear to all.