Closing personal accounts

The Central Bank of Malta circulated a letter, dated August 10, 2021, among a category of personal account holders on its books, instructing them to close their accounts by December 31, 2021. It cited the need to mitigate risks associated with personal accounts envisaged in the anti-money laundering legislation as the underlying reason.

This decision raises several questions of principle, has various implications and is a matter of public interest.

The first question to ask is whether this was the spirit with which the legislator enacted this law, namely the empowerment of a bank to effect a blanket closure of a category of accounts without there being any evidence of individual or collective wrongdoing. Next, we enquire why a specific category of accounts was selected. For all intents and purposes, any bank account carries with it a potential and theoretical risk.

By adopting the same line of thinking, a bank manager can unilaterally and arbitrarily close an account on the basis of the anti-money laundering law without there being any material reason. Invoking such a procedure to close an account may imply that a breach of the law has occurred and can render the account holder suspect.

Taking these considerations as a totality, one wonders whether one will be able to open a new bank account at another bank given the strict protocols that need to be adhered to when opening new accounts.

This leads us further to enquire whether there exists a correct, consistent and coherent interpretation and application of the anti-money laundering legislation across the banking sector.

Therefore, it behoves upon the competent authorities to clarify such matters and ensure a fair and balanced understanding and implementation of the relevant law. In the last analysis, it is the public who will bear the consequences of any uncalculated measures.

Emanuel Aquilina – Birżebbuġa

Long queues at airport arrivals

Thanks to COVID-19, airport passenger arrivals must fill in and present health-related documentation at the front desk. This is all well and good because the process guarantees proper contact tracing should anyone be unlucky enough to have shared a flight with an infected person.

Queues at the airport still persist. Photo: Jonathan Borg

It is ironic, however, that the same process intended to mitigate the spread of the virus is actually creating the perfect environment for the disease to prosper.

On the afternoon of September 9, I happened to be in the MIA arrivals area and, together with over 1,000 other passengers, spent around 90 minutes trudging along in a seemingly infinite queue just to present my locator form, vaccine certificate and passport. To claim that the situation was chaotic would be an understatement. Everyone was crammed together like cattle and social distancing was just a buzzword to be ignored.

The customary “keep your distance” stickers were strategically glued to the ground but these were there only for aesthetic purposes. Truth be told, however, if social distancing had been respected, the queue would have extended onto the runway and beyond.

On arriving at the front desk, I handed over the requested documentation – clearly barcoded – for registration. When used properly, barcodes guarantee a swift process (such as going through security with a barcoded boarding pass). In the case of the MIA arrivals area, however, such concept is yet to be discovered. The only tool made available to the overwhelmed front officer was a rudimentary mobile phone with which he hovered over the barcodes in the hope of focusing on and capturing the necessary information.

In the Times of Malta article titled ‘Airport queues: more staff to be deployed “in coming hours”, minister pledges’ (dated July 5), the tourism minister declared that “long queues at the airport arrivals lounge should be drastically reduced in the coming hours”.

I assure him that, two months later, it is not the case.

Jesmond Camilleri – Msida

Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@timesofmalta.com. Please include your full name, address and ID card number. The editor may disclose personal information to any person or entity seeking legal action on the basis of a published letter.