A judicial protest filed this week has exposed MeDirect Bank’s bad debts in its loan book, while also raising questions over the disclosures made by the bank in connection with its latest €30 million bond issue.
MeDirect is a recent entrant to the Maltese market. The bank was founded in Malta in 2004 as Mediterranean Bank and became a fully licensed credit institution the following year. It was acquired and recapitalised by UK private-equity firm AnaCap Financial Partners in 2009, before gradually expanding its activities from investment and wealth-management services into corporate lending, mortgages and now even retail banking.
The bank changed ownership again last year. Czech bank Banka CREDITAS, part of the privately owned CREDITAS Group, completed its acquisition of MeDirect’s parent company, MDB Group Limited, in September 2025.
The judicial protest by Andrew Vaswani draws attention to litigation and enforcement proceedings which, he argues, should have been considered for disclosure in the prospectus issued by MeDirect on 31 August 2026 for its new €30 million 5.85% unsecured subordinated bond.
The prospectus states that there had been no governmental, legal or arbitration proceedings during the previous 12 months, including pending proceedings known to the bank, which may have or have had significant effects on its financial position or profitability. At the same time, the prospectus did not claim that MeDirect was involved in any litigation whatsoever. Vaswani’s argument is that the ongoing proceedings should have been disclosed.
One of the disclosures that should have allegedly been made is the MeDirect’s €13.94 million loan to the previously insolvent Daniel’s Shopping Complex in Ħamrun.
However, MeDirect acquired the main Daniels Shopping Complex property in Ħamrun through a judicial auction held on 5 November 2024, and sold the mall for up to €27.9 million.
The separate exposure involves Alison Investments Limited and D.A. Holdings Limited. In an October 2024 judgment, the companies admitted claims brought against them by MeDirect. The court upheld the bank’s claims for approximately €3.01 million for which the companies were jointly liable and a further €1.04 million owed by Alison Investments alone, together with interest and costs. The same judgment records that MeDirect had earlier called in a wider set of five loan accounts amounting to approximately €13.38 million, although those figures should not simply be added together because the judgment refers to different accounts and claims within the same lending relationship.
MeDirect has also pursued the judicial sale of properties belonging to Alison Investments.
Effectively the bank is already covering its bad debts.
The judicial protest identifies three sets of proceedings which Vaswani says warranted consideration in the bond prospectus: litigation concerning Daniels Shopping Complex, enforcement proceedings involving Alison Investments’ assets, and proceedings described in the protest as criminal in nature involving the bank and former directors.
In addition, despite these problem exposures, MeDirect’s latest published financial statements do not indicate an immediate capital or liquidity crisis. At 30 June 2026, the bank reported €5.82 billion in total assets and €306.3 million in equity, with €3.25 billion in loans and advances to customers. MeDirect Bank Malta At group level, MeDirect reported that its non-performing-loan ratio had fallen to 0.5%, while its total capital ratio stood at 22.9%, above the applicable regulatory requirements. Its liquidity coverage ratio stood at 184%, against a 100% minimum requirement.
You can downlaod the judicial protest here and here.
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