Banks reject PM’s ‘reticence’ claim

Malta’s main banks have rejected Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s claim that legitimate people and businesses are sometimes not allowed to open new bank accounts. The banks cited a huge increase in new account holders and pointed to new rules which increase the amount of information that is required from potential new customers.  On Thursday the Prime Minister said the banking sector’s reticence when opening new accounts was in breach of EU rules. He said “legitimate” people and businesses were often unable to open new accounts, which was their right, adding that he could not tolerate such a situation. Charles Azzopardi, public relations executive at Bank of Valletta, told The Sunday Times of Malta that over the past few years, new rules and regulations, primarily on money laundering and terrorism funding, had impacted the extent of information and documentation required from bank account applicants. BOV, he said, had a “clear risk appetite framework and customer acceptance policy”. He said the bank provided services to both domestic corporates and international corporates setting up in Malta. Last November it had introduced the BOV Salary Package, designed to cater for foreign...