The Malta Financial Services Authority (“Authority”) decided to proceed with issuing a number of directives to Mr Karl Schranz.

BREACHES

Mr Schranz has been found to have acted in breach of/not satisfying the following:

[i] Article 5(1)(c)(iii) of the Company Service Providers Act, Rule 5.0 of the Rules for Company Service Providers and Paragraph 4 of the Code of Conduct for Trustees;

[ii] Rule 15.06 of the Rules for Company Service Providers; and

[iii] Breach of Rule 6 of the CSP Rules.

In light of the above, in particular the lack of honesty and integrity displayed by Mr Schranz as a result of his behaviour and business relations the Authority has decided to issue a number of directives to Mr Schranz.

REGULATORY ACTION

On 8 May 2020, the Malta Financial Services Authority directed Mr Karl Schranz to:

[i] resign from all positions previously approved by the Authority which he currently holds in RES Malta Ltd and SOLV International Ltd;

[ii] divest himself, at the earliest possible, of all the qualifying shareholdings which he holds, whether directly or indirectly, in RES Malta Ltd and SOLV International Ltd; and

[iii] refrain from accepting any new appointments and acquiring any shareholdings which require the Authority’s approval in entities licensed or otherwise authorised or supervised by the MFSA for a period of 5 years from the date of this decision notice.

Provided that, insofar as the directives set out in points [i] and [ii] above relate to Mr Schranz’s approved positions and qualifying shareholding in SOLV International Ltd., their coming into effect is subject to such conditions as imposed by the Authority in its decision of the 8 May 2020.

The Authority has taken its decision in terms of article 48(2)(a) of the Trusts and Trustees Act, article 11 of the Company Service Providers Act, and article 16(2)(b) of the Malta Financial Services Authority Act.

UPDATE ON 10 JUNE 2020

The Authority’s decision was appealed before the Financial Services Tribunal within the period established by law.