Maltese Businesses In The Dark After Foreign ‘Financial Institution’ Goes Into Administration

As hundreds of local businesses continue to struggle with the Satabank closure, another lesser known ‘financial institution’ has left Maltese businesses in the dark over their funds.

EmexGo is a UK-registered company popular with Malta-based Italian gaming companies that went into administration in early September due to insolvency issues. The company has a number of Maltese clients who it serviced via its nondescript offices in Valletta, providing various payment, electronic money remittance and banking services.

Disgruntled business owners have told Lovin Malta that they have started receiving correspondence from the company’s administrators in the UK, asking the businesses to provide information about funds EmexGo might be holding on their behalf. Under English law, administrators are appointed to manage the affairs of companies that are going through insolvency, with the hope of rescuing the company’s position.

What makes this case particularly curious is that EmexGo does not have much presence in Malta. A quick online search doesn’t yield much information, other than the company’s website which states it is “currently under maintenance”. The company appears to have sponsored a payments forum in Malta earlier this year, but otherwise the references to Malta are rather scant.

The company was also previously authorised as an electronic money institution by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, but this licence has since been revoked.

In September 2016, the MFSA had issued a notice regarding the similarly named EmexPay, warning the public that it was not authorised to operate in Malta and urging the public to refrain from dealing with the company. EmexPay and EmexGo share the same business address.

Maltese business owners have told Lovin Malta that EmexGo was reasonably popular as it provided quick solutions at a time when more established institutions became more rigid and bureaucratic especially when it comes to opening bank accounts.

READ NEXT: Satabank Clients ‘Desperate’ And ‘Suicidal’ Two Weeks Into Closure