Published: September 16, 2022

As promised, we are providing a long-awaited update on the bank’s operations, aimed at clients wishing to opt out of the migration to Qenta Inc.

We are fully aware that many of you have waited very patiently over the last few months for OCIF and our appointed receiver to approve our liquidation plan. We notified clients on August 29th that they can begin entering their transaction requests inside their eBanking, per OCIF’s orders to liquidate the bank.

Summary

✅ OCIF suspended Euro Pacific Bank and appointed a receiver (or “trustee”) to manage all bank operations and assets on June 30, 2022
✅ Currency conversions, outgoing wire transfer form, precious metals trading, and mutual fund trading re-enabled in eBanking on August 29th
✅ OCIF and trustee fully approved Liquidation Plan for Euro Pacific Bank on September 6, 2022

⌛Correspondent bank awaiting further information from OCIF to process our client transactions
⌛Interactive Brokers awaiting further information from OCIF to transfer client positions to new brokerage accounts
⌛Mutual fund sell orders awaiting approval from Interactive Brokers, its custodian
⌛Accounts with debit blocks to be unblocked by Compliance so wire transfer requests can be entered

Operational Delays

Outgoing Wire Transfers

Euro Pacific Bank began allowing clients to submit transfer requests in their eBanking on Monday, August 29th. Unfortunately, those transfer requests are currently still being held by our correspondent bank, who has requested written confirmation from the bank’s government-appointed receiver that we are authorized to proceed with your wire transfer(s).

Although the receiver, with permission from OCIF, has provided our correspondent bank with written authorization and the government-approved Liquidation Plan, our correspondent bank has requested additional authorization from the receiver, which he is currently attempting to fulfill.

We understand this situation may be frustrating for many of you, as it is for us. We have been waiting eagerly for your transactions be processed, however our correspondent bank will only accept our transaction requests after fulfilling their internal requirements. Simply put, we can only process your transactions as soon as our correspondent bank processes them.

In the meantime, here are some actions you can take:

• Simply enter your outgoing wire transfer request and get in the queue so the bank can process them as soon as our correspondent bank is ready.
• If you have a blocked bank account and cannot enter a wire transfer, our compliance team is in the process of unblocking them so that you can enter your wire transfer request. We expect this to be completed over the next 1-2 business days.
• Ensure that your outgoing wire transfer requests are first party. In other words, they should go to an account under the same name. If you have a corporate account with us, transfers can be made to your personal name if preferred.
• Consolidate your cash balances into one of your bank accounts before entering your final wire transfer request, if you hold multiple currencies. Remember, wire transfers can only be requested in EUR, GBP, CHF, JPY, and PLN.

Thanks for your continued patience through this process and we will continue to update you on this step.

Brokerage Accounts

Similarly, if you currently have a Euro Pacific Trader brokerage account and are awaiting the transfer of your positions to your new Interactive Brokers account, Interactive Brokers has also asked to get written authorization from our receiver before any of our transfer requests can be processed, for legal reasons.

To date, written authorization has been provided by the receiver with approval from OCIF, and Interactive Brokers is currently reviewing the documentation. We hope they can complete this task as soon as possible so that we can regain the ability to transfer your cash and stock positions to your new brokerage accounts.

Precious Metals

Precious metals sell orders are being fulfilled in real-time with no delay or issues.

Mutual Funds

Mutual fund sell orders are currently delayed for the same reason as the brokerage account delay—Interactive Brokers is the custodian of the mutual fund accounts, and currently we are prevented from processing mutual fund sell requests until they have approved the bank trustee’s requests.

Frequently Asked Questions

We will be posting your requested Q&As here shortly.