The Paceville Satabank branch was closed Monday for “internal staff meetings”, a note on the front door of the bank said. A crowd of people gathered outside the front doors demanding answers and access to their accounts, but they were not let inside.

The Central Bank suspended the participation of Satabank plc in Target2-Malta, and the MFSA ordered the bank to suspend a number of its services such as refraining from taking further deposits, or processing any withdrawal or outward transfers from any accounts held by the bank.

The bank was also ordered to retain and preserve all records, data and documents in Malta or in any other jurisdiction which relate in any way to the business of the bank.

Auditors Ernst and Young (EY) have been tasked by the MFSA to take charge of Satabank’s assets in light of some of the bank’s shortcomings with regards to its anti-money laundering procedures, making it the second time in a year that the MFSA has appointed a third-party to administer the running of a bank.

Customers have been asked to provide their customer details to the Bank through their customer support email – in particular time-sensitive payments which need to go out and income which should be received.