PwC Malta has been appointed competent person at law to oversee the affairs of Pilatus Bank following the resignation of Robert Ancilleri, the Malta Financial Services Authority said on Friday.
Ancilleri, an auditor, is the second appointed competent person to resign the position.
He had been appointed to the post in January following the resignation of Lawrence Connell, who had held the post since March 2018.
Pilatus has been at the centre of political controversy ever since a series of leaked financial intelligence reports flagged evidence of money laundering and serious compliance shortcomings back in 2016.
In March 2018, the MFSA issued a number of sanctions against the bank, effectively seizing its operations, after its chairman Ali Sadr Hasheminajad was arrested in the US. The authority forced the chairman out of the bank and the European Central Bank in November that year revoked the bank s licence.
An auditor tasked by the Maltese financial regulator to take over the shuttered Pilatus Bank as its ‘competent person’, is a non-executive director on companies owned by Pilatus Bank’s Maltese lawyers, DF Advocates.
He resigned his post on Horizon Finance plc on Friday 15 January, a day after his new role was announced by the MFSA.
DF Advocates had issued statements on behalf of Pilatus Bank when the Egrant inquiry was published, in which Pilatus took to task critics of the bank and its services rendered to various Maltese individuals and Azeri oligarchs.
Until Friday morning, Ancilleri appeared as a non-executive, independent director on the board of DF Consultancy Services, which forms part of the DF group. He is also listed as a director of Horizon Finance plc and Shoreline Mall plc, both companies owned by DF partners.
The MFSA has appointed auditor Robert Ancilleri as the competent person at law to oversee the affairs of Pilatus Bank following the resignation of the incumbent Lawrence Connell.
Connell, a former US financial regulator, had been appointed in March 2018 but resigned with immediate effect on Wednesday. No reason was given by the MFSA.
Mr Ancilleri was appointed to replace him.
The MFSA said that its notice of March 2018 on the appointment of a competent person shall remain in full force.
The Ta’ Xbiex bank has been at the centre of political controversy ever since a series of leaked financial intelligence reports flagged evidence of money-laundering and serious compliance shortcomings back in 2016.