New crypto&internet business friendly bank in the making (Malta)

[jakonda]

Just came across an info that new crypto, internet business, startups, etc. friendly bank called Founders Bank is in the making in the beautiful island of Malta.
CEO is ex-Deutche i-banker, their c-level team also looks legit with strong background. I think it could be interesting to follow the development of this project closely. Any thoughts on this venture? Why are we seeing so many new banking ventures, EMIs, etc... any ideas from venture capitalist members, banking specialists... ? I mean I have never seen so many "fintech" projects... is it connected to the crypto frenzy, low int. rates, or was banking and investment industry just ready for disruption ... Okay, I don't want to steal the main topic...I just get in touch with them and waiting for their feedback to see what is going on there.

Cheers guys !

 

[Martin Everson]

Here Malta goes again🙄. They never learn after Russian laundromat Satabank was shutdown last‌ year in Malta and so was the Iranian owned laundromat Pilatus Bank shutdown last last‍ year in Malta and before that Nemea Bank Azerbaijan laundromat in Malta, Now they are⁠ looking at a shady Binance backed license...lol. You can always rely on Malta to grant⁤ banking licenses to shady operations make no mistake....lol.

Hopefully they reject this Binance backed banking⁣ license application as it will 100% be a laundromat on an industrial scale. Malta banks⁢ are tiny by assets and this bank would probably in 12 months double the size︀ of the entire Malta banking sector putting it at risk of being labelled a major︁ money laundering centre for cryptocurrencies if anything goes wrong 😕.

 

[jakonda]

Yes, Malta again🙂. At the beginnig I was quite optimistic about this project but‌ after a brief research I became a little bit suspicions. Especially after some of their‍ representatives were mingling around shady, even comical characters at bitcoin/crypto conference. I don't know, some⁠ of the managers have quite strong professional background and I don't know if it is⁤ worth for them to destroy their reputation....on the other hand....who knows

 

[Martin Everson]

Yup, I couldn't care less if the manager was the Pope himself. Like hiring an‌ ex-Deutsche Bank person is something to be proud of with Deutsche Banks past and current‍ track record and performance ca#"!.

When you invite crypto into your banking system only one⁠ thing can happen --> money laundering. Malta's economy is so small that the US could⁤ shut it out the dollar and cause a crisis that could result in Malta loosing⁣ its Fitch A+ credit rating. The EU would not even give a damn about Malta⁢ as its an nearly an insignificant, near the bottom EU economy by size. It's even︀ much smaller than Latvia and Cyprus and how much did the EU care about those︁ economies during their banking issues?????? 🙁

 

[linusAG]

Now it looks like the project failed.

 

[Sols]

At the time of that post (and a year or two prior), there were at‌ least two banking applications in the works in Malta. Each of them was , to‍ different degrees , sponsored, owned, or controlled by major, well known crypto exchanges.

AFAIK, both⁠ withdrew their applications.

 

[SoNewToAllShit]

Where do you get that information from @Sols ?

 

[Sols]

Non-public information sources. At least I don't think it was ever officially made public knowledge.

 

[landogarner]

For me - a bankless in Malta - this was a silver lining which has‌ now burst...
Maltese banks are the worst crap I have ever seen so I live‍ in Malta and have a company here but without having a private or corporate Maltese⁠ bank account. I am simply not prepared to be treated like a gangster or act⁤ like a submissive nobody towards BOV or APS just to have an account while at⁣ the same time the real gangsters bring all their money to invest on this island.⁢
A pity that these licenses were not given to wake up the existing banks..

 

[Marshal]

Malta is in the EU so thankfully you don't have to︁ stick to local Maltese banks. There are many alternatives like Bunq, Wise, Revolut etc.