UPDATE: An update with a statement by Karen Safaryan’s spokesperson can be found here.
Ardshinbank of Armenia, that is now bidding for HSBC Malta, already successfully acquired HSBC Armenia in 2024, making it highly likely that its Maltese bid will be accepted by HSBC Group in terms of compliance. On the other hand, the bid still needs to be accepted by the Maltese regulator, the MFSA.
HSBC Malta has claimed it has had no satisfactory offers so far after bids were received by APS Bank, a Maltese consortium of private investors and Hungarian bank, OTP.
Ardshinbank does not appear to be on any sanctions list at the moment, however the bank is owned by Karen Safaryan who also has extensive businesses interests in Russia. Ardshinbank is the largest private bank in Armenia. Armenia also serves as a major transit export hub of European products to Russia effectively serving as a third-party channel to bypass Russian sanctions.
Malta would serve Ardshinbank as its gateway to Europe, and its purchase of HSBC Malta would effectively reward it with an EU banking passport.
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