Banking Act (Cap. 371)
Banking Act (Cap. 371), article 35A
35A. (1) Without prejudice to the provisions of articles
29AA(1)(c), 35 and 35B and to any regulations made under articl es
3(1)(a), 3(1)(c) and 3(1)(e), wh ere any person fails to comply with
any of the conditions imposed in a licence, and, or where the
competent authority is satisfie d that a person’s conduct amount s to
a breach of any of the provisions of this Act, or any regulatio ns
made or Banking Rules issued thereunder, or the CRR , or such
person has failed to comply with a directive issued by the
competent authority under this Act, or any regulation made or
Banking Rules or Conduct of Business Rules issued thereunder, o r the
CRR , or any binding legal instruments issued under the CRD , the
competent authority may, by notice in writing and without recou rse
to a court hearing, impose on such person an administrative pen alty
of -
(a) up to twice the amount of the benefit derived from the
breach where that benefi t can be determined;
(b) in the case of a natural per son, up to five million euro
(€5,000,000); or
(c) in the case of a legal person, up to 10% of the total
annual net turnover of the undertaking in the preceding
business year including the gross income consisting of
interest receivable and similar income, income from
shares and other variable or fixed-yield securities, and
commissions or fees recei vable in accordance with
Article 316 of the CRR:
Provided that, in the case of a subsidiary of a parent
undertaking, the relev ant gross income shall be the gross incom e
resulting from the consolidated account of the ultimate parent
undertaking in t he preceding business year.
(2) The Minister may, acting on the advice of the competent
authority, make regulations as shall be deemed appropriate to
provide for the establishment and impositi on of administrative
82 CAP. 371.] BANKING
penalties and other administrativ e measures on licence holders or
others as may be specified therein.
(3) Where the competent authority decides to impose an
administrative penalty in terms of this Act or any regulations made
thereunder, it shall notify the person on whom the penalty is b eing
imposed by means of a notice in writing.
(4) Where the person upon whom the notice referred to in sub-
article (3) is served -
(a) fails to pay to the competent authority the amount of
the penalty within a period of thirty days of the service
of the notice, and fails to appeal from the decision of
the competent authority t o the Financial Services
Tribunal; or
(b) appeals to the Financial S ervice Tribunal and fails
within a period of fifteen days from the decision of the
Tribunal to pay the administrative penalty as
confirmed or as reduced by that Tribunal,
then, in every case, the amount of the administrative penalty, as
originally imposed or as reduced , as the case may be, shall be due
to the competent authority as a civil debt, and the provisions of
sub-article (5) shall apply.
Cap. 12.
(5) A notice as is referred to in sub-article (3), or the decisi on
of the Financial Services Tribunal, as the case may be, shall u pon
the service by judicial act of a copy thereof on the person ind icated
in the notice, constitute an ex ecutive title for all effects an d
purposes of Title VII of Part I of Book Second of the Code of
Organization and Civil Procedure .
(6) The imposition by the competent authority of an
administrative penalty in terms of this Act, or any regulations made
thereunder, shall be without prejudice to any other consequence s of
the act or omission of the offender under civil or criminal law :
Provided that in all cases where the competent authority
imposes an administrative penalty in respect of anything done o r
omitted to be done by any person and such act or omission also
constitutes a criminal offence, no proceedings may be taken or
continued against the said person in respect of such criminal
offence.
Publication of
administrative
penalties.
Added by:
X. 2015.51.
Amended by:
LXXI.2021.61.
Text read from the consolidated PDF published by Legislation Malta. Tables, figures and marginal notes may be incomplete or out of place: the official PDF is authoritative. General information, not legal, tax or accounting advice.