MALTA: MFSA SAYS FIM BANK REMAINS COMMITTED TO

S E C R E T VALLETTA 000152 NOFORN E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/01/2019 TAGS: PARM PREL EFIN KNNP MT IR SUBJECT: MALTA: MFSA SAYS FIM BANK REMAINS COMMITTED TO RATCHETING DOWN ITS EXPOSURE TO IRAN REF: A. TD-314/019129-09 ¶B. TD-314/011928-09 ¶C. 08 VALLETTA 190 Classified By: Classified by CDA Jason Davis, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (S) Following reports (see Refs A,B) that individuals associated with the Iran Investment Company (IIC) had recently been involved in financial activity involving Malta-based FIM Bank, Charge' several weeks ago asked Joseph Bannister, head of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) whether he could confirm that FIMBANK remained committed to its undertaking (Ref C) to ratchet down its dealings with Iran. Bannister said he would look into the matter and report back. ¶2. (C) On March 30, in a meeting at MFSA headquarters, Charge met with Bannister and with MFSA Director General Andre Camilleri. Bannister said that he had spoken to FIM Bank's senior leadership, and that they had "reaffirmed their policy" of reducing the banks exposure to Iran. He added that "so far, no Iranian individual or company" had approached any Maltese financial institutions with transactions or requests of concern. Camilleri noted that Malta's Registrar of Companies had adjoining offices with the FIU, meaning that attempts by Iranian companies to establish themselves in Malta would come to his attention. Meanwhile, he added, large monetary movements would be caught by the Central Bank; here, to, there had been nothing untoward in the past year. Comment -------------- ¶3. (C) Due to the nature of the reporting, we were unable to refer specifically to the information in Refs A and B, which was in any event somewhat inconclusive. Nonetheless it was reassuring that these Maltese officials were willing to state firmly that they were confident there had been no significant recent uptick in Iranian financial activity in Malta. DAVIS