Migration & Liquidation FAQ
Published: December 16, 2022
In an effort to continually update you about the liquidation & migration process, we have created the following comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions list that is composed of the most essential questions & answers regarding the liquidation of Euro Pacific Bank & migration to Qenta for your reviews.
Sincerely,
Euro Pacific Bank.
- Are my funds and investment account holdings safe?
Yes. Euro Pacific Bank (“EPB”) was a full reserve bank, all assets previously held by the bank are there and to be honoured whether you choose to migrate to Qenta or opt out of the migration post completion of the liquidation process.
- Why is the liquidation process still not done?
EPB’s OCIF-appointed receiver and custodian institution must work through their process before any funds can be released. This includes opt-out clients as well as those transferring to Qenta.
- When will the liquidation process be completed?
The opt-out deadline ended November 30th, 2022, however the liquidation process will be completed when all requirements in the Liquidation plan have been met. This includes transfer of client funds back to clients which will occur when the OCIF-appointed receiver and correspondent bank has completed their process. All wires will be sent out as soon as their process is complete, however an exact time or date is currently not available.
- For cash deposits, how do I opt-out?
The deadline for opt-out requests was November 30th, 2022. Please note however that EPB can continue to accept opt out requests for clients who missed the deadline. Please go into eBanking and enter the outgoing wire transfer request.
- How do I opt-out if I own mutual funds?
Qenta will not be maintaining EPB’s Mutual Funds offerings. As of November 30th, all Mutual Fund holdings are in the process of being liquidated and the exact value of your shares credited accordingly to your account in cash. The liquidation will be done in accordance with the mutual fund agreements.
- How do I opt-out if I have precious metals account holdings?
Precious metals account holders can liquidate their positions in eBanking and credit the funds to their cash account. The deadline for opting out of the migration was November 30th, 2022, however EPB can continue to accept opt-out requests for clients who missed the deadline.
- How do I opt-out if I have brokerage account holdings?
The brokerage accounts have now become fully disclosed accounts with Interactive Brokers (IB). All funding and withdrawals from these accounts should be handled directly with IB.
- Can I do a partial opt-out from the migration as well as transfer some funds to Qenta?
EPB’s OCIF-appointed receiver will not be allowing partial opt-out requests. This means that all opt-out first-party outgoing wire requests must be for the full balance of your account. If you currently still maintain a partial outgoing wire this request will need to be cancelled by the bank’s Operations department and the amount for the full wire entered into eBanking.
- How do I opt-in to Qenta?
If you did not request an outgoing first party wire by November 30th for the entirety of your account balance, at the end of the liquidation process your account and assets (deposits, precious metals, brokerage, mutual funds) should be automatically transferred to Qenta.. If you have missed the November 30th deadline, EPB can still accept outgoing wire requests. Kindly note that once the migration is complete and you become Qenta clients, you can still opt-out (i.e. liquidate all existing assets) to a first party account at any time.
- Are you converting my funds to gold with the migration to Qenta?
All new funds sent to your account after the migration would indeed need to be received for the purpose of purchasing gold, however for existing funds coming over with the migration, Qenta will honour your current portfolio as it stands. Qenta will convert migrated funds to gold as our license requires us to do, however we will assume all the risk on this conversion and your current exposure on migrated funds will remain the same as before and these funds can be liquidated at any time post migration.
- What about my precious metals account holdings with the migration to Qenta?
The Precious Metals Accounts will move into the Responsible Gold Ecosystem which is backed by physical metal in Switzerland. You will continue to have access to your deposits through a very similar user interface. The process has already started to upgrade all gold holding clients into high quality Responsible Gold which should command a premium over standard LBMA gold which is currently the basis for the gold holdings. A similar solution is being worked on for silver clients. No action will be required from your part to complete the opt-in process.
- Is Qenta a bank?
Qenta is not a bank. Client accounts migrating from EPB will be held by the wholly owned Qenta subsidiary located in Dubai, Responsible Gold Trading Division (RGTD) and the department that will continue to serve you is Responsible Gold Trading Services (RGTS) team.
- If Qenta is not a bank, how are you licensed to receive former EPB client deposits?
Qenta’s subsidiary RGTD is a fully licensed precious metals trading company. Please note that as RGTD is not a bank it will not be providing banking services, such as cash deposit accounts and third party transfers. Former EPB clients who migrate to Qenta will have a gold trading account and not a bank account. As mentioned before, all EPB client liabilities coming over as currency and precious metals will be fixed and obligations (ie liquidation requests) will be honoured at any time.
- If I opt-in, can I still opt-out at a later date?
Yes. Anytime after the completion of the migration, you will be able to liquidate your holdings to a first party account of your choosing at any time.
- What currencies will be available with the transfer to Qenta?
All currencies previously available to EPB clients for first-party incoming and outgoing wire transfers will be available to Qenta clients, including USD.
- What about my existing EPB bank card?
EPB’s existing relationship with their card provider has been closed and as such EPB nor Qenta maintain any access or visibility to systems related to the previously issued cards. For all inquiries related to existing cards issued by EPB, clients should contact the card provider’s customer service line directly. These details can be found on the back of your card.
- Does Qenta serve all jurisdictions?
The new accounts will be available to all jurisdictions previously served by EPB. Qenta will be maintaining a restricted country list which is very similar to the one already used by EPB.
- How do I get in touch with EPB if I am having a problem?
For the time being, please continue to use the Client Services channels established by EPB, e.g. [email protected], or the internal messaging system within eBanking. If your existing client services ticket has not been responded to, please escalate to [email protected], and we will ensure that it is handled urgently. Once the migration is complete, EPB will release new support and escalation channels for clients, however the previously existing email addresses will continue to be forwarded on to us.
Last updated: 12/20/2022.
Migration & Liquidation Update: Dec 5, 2022
Published: December 5, 2022
Dear Customers,
Thank you for your continued patience. We wanted to let you know that the Receiver appointed by the Puerto Rican government to oversee the liquidation process continues to work with the correspondent bank to process all outgoing wires for opt-out clients as well as the wires for opt-in clients, however, we still do not have a clear indication as to when their process will end. Your frustration is shared and understood.
Until these parties have completed the liquidation process, no one will have access to funds held at the correspondent financial institution – neither the opt-out clients, nor Qenta for the opt-in clients. Unfortunately, the team at Euro Pacific Bank/Qenta do not have any control over the speed of this process between the Receiver and the correspondent bank.
Please rest assured that the moment we receive approval to proceed with the transfers the operations team is standing by ready to complete these actions immediately.
In the meantime, we will also continue to follow up and provide further updates to all customers as soon as they become available.
As always, if any questions please feel free to reach out to us directly at [email protected] or if you need to escalate, you can email [email protected].
Sincerely,
Euro Pacific Bank.
Migration Update: Nov 1, 2022
Published: November 1, 2022
Dear Customers,
Please find an update for all mutual fund account holders as well as clients who have entered partial liquidation requests in eBanking.
Mutual funds
As the existing mutual fund products will be discontinued after the migration, all holders of mutual fund shares should enter a sell order within eBanking for the entirety of their current positions. Any shares still being held at the migration date would be liquidated by the bank, at which point the exact dollar value would then be credited to your cash account accordingly in order for these funds to be included in the migration.
Outgoing wire requests
The bank’s OCIF-appointed receiver has stipulated that all outgoing wires for opt-out clients must be for the entirety of the remaining account balance, as such partial outgoing wires would not be accepted before the migration to Qenta. Please keep in mind however that once the migration to Qenta has been completed you will be able to liquidate any portion of your account that you wish at any time to a first-party account of your choosing.
To cancel an existing partial outgoing wire, please send the request to the bank using the eBanking Support center, or by writing to [email protected].
Deadline Extended
To give you more time to make adjustments accordingly, the opt-out deadline for all customers has been extended to Wednesday, November 9, 2022.
As a reminder, the OCIF-appointed receiver continues to work with the correspondent financial institutions to review and process all wires for opt-out and opt-in clients, and we continue to wait for completion of their process.
And as always, please feel free to reach out to us directly anytime at [email protected] or if you need to escalate you can email [email protected].
Sincerely,
Euro Pacific Bank.
Migration Update: Oct 21, 2022
Published: October 21, 2022
Dear Customers,
Thank you for your continued patience. We wanted to let you know that the Receiver continues to work with the correspondent financial institution to process all outgoing wires for opt-out clients and the remaining wires for opt-in clients, however, we have not been given an indication that their process will end today.
As such, the Opt-out period will be extended from October 22 to Monday, October 31, 2022.
Meanwhile, we continue to follow up, and will keep you updated on any developments. As always, please feel free to reach out to us directly at [email protected], or if you need to escalate, you can email [email protected].
Sincerely,
Qenta Team.
Migration Update: Oct 14, 2022
Published: October 14, 2022
Dear Customers,
Thank you for attending our Townhall on October 12th and for your engagement. As promised, we will have a follow-up Townhall on Monday, October 17, from 9-10am EST (US & Canada) given that we ran out of time on October 12. See meeting details below.
- Meeting ID: 984 2068 7642
- Passcode: 054496
- Zoom Meeting: Link
Other key reminders:
- For opt-out clients: The deadline to opt-out has been extended from today until October 22, 2022. For emphasis, this means that customers who do not wish their accounts to be transferred to Qenta, must request an outgoing wire through eBanking to another account in the same name (first party wire) or that of the same beneficial owners in the case of corporate accounts, by no later than October 22, 2022.
- As mentioned before, the delay in the processing of outgoing wires continues until the Receiver and correspondent banking institutions complete their process. This situation is out of our control, but we will continue to monitor the situation and keep you updated.
- Please feel free to reach out to our Client Services team through the Support Center in eBanking or through [email protected], and they will continue to provide all assistance for any issues you may have.
Thank you very much, and we look forward to hearing from you on Monday.
Best Regards,
Qenta Team.
Follow On Virtual Townhall Meeting
Published: October 10, 2022
Dear Customers,
We apologize that some of you were not able to access the Zoom meeting for the Townhall planned for October 10, 2022 due to technical issues. We have scheduled another meeting to take place on October 12, 2022 from 9-10am EST. The meeting access details are:
- Zoom meeting link: https://zoom.us/j/99180943645
- Meeting ID: 991 8094 3645
For any questions, please reach out to us directly on [email protected]
Sincerely,
Qenta Team.
Migration Update: Oct 8, 2022
Published: October 8, 2022
Dear Customers,
The following details are applied to those of you who wish to opt-out of Qenta migration:
Due to a technical issue, some of the recently unblocked accounts did not have the full functionality to request outgoing wires as expected. As such, the opt-out deadline has been extended to Friday, October 14, 2022 for all cash deposit clients.
This means that, should you not want your account to migrate to Qenta, you should request an outgoing wire by no later than October 14th, through eBanking, to another account in the same name (first party wire) or that of the same beneficial owners if you have a corporate account.
If you are encountering any difficulties, please feel free as always to contact our Client Services team through the Support Center or through [email protected].
Summary of Recent Events
- 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
- Interactive Brokers awaiting further information from receiver to transfer client positions to new brokerage accounts
- Mutual fund sell orders awaiting approval from Interactive Brokers, its custodian
- Euro Pacific Bank’s correspondent bank will begin processing transactions in collaboration with the receiver
- Blocked accounts to be temporarily unblocked by Euro Pacific Bank so customers may provide missing information for accounts to remain active with Qenta or to wire available funds to a destination account in their name and the subsequent closing of the account. Otherwise accounts will remain blocked.
- Unblocked accounts have full functionality. Opt-out deadline to be extended to Oct 14, 2022 for clients to request outgoing wires.
Migration Update: September 30, 2022
Published: September 30, 2022
Dear Customers,
Below please find an update on the liquidation status as well as some actions required by you, our customer.
If you opted in to migrate to Qenta
- Precious Metals Account holdings will be transferred to Qenta’s management on September 30, 2022.
- Qenta is also in the process of acquiring Euro Pacific Securities’ role as the Fully-Disclosed Broker on all brokerage accounts currently at Interactive Brokers, in order to service all of your brokerage needs.
- Finally, bank account cash holdings will begin transferring to Qenta’s banking network in October 2022, once the receiver and correspondent bank has completed their review and approval process.
- As this migration period occurs from today September 30, 2022 through October, there will be more frequent communication via email, this website, and Customer Townhalls to keep you informed.
As a reminder, Qenta is not a bank. Qenta is a financial technology firm whose vision is to lead the world to a frictionless and democratized financial ecosystem, operating three divisions focused on payments, pay-outs, and commodities hedging. As such, Qenta can facilitate first-party wires, as well as to other Qenta clients. While third party wire transfers are not possible today, we are working to bring this service to you in the future.
In addition, one of Qenta’s key retail products is a Responsible Gold savings product that gives customers a title of ownership to gold that can be accessed through a digital wallet for convenience, liquidity and flexibility. Qenta also works with businesses to simplify their complex payment needs via smart contracts.
Feel free to reach out to Qenta at anytime at [email protected]. The Qenta team looks forward to welcoming you to their family.
If you opted out
- To follow up our previous Migration Opt Out updates, we are happy to announce that some progress has been made on the processing of your pending outgoing wire transfers. Our correspondent bank and the bank’s receiver have come to an agreement to start releasing funds, albeit manually. We appreciate your continued patience as funds are periodically released.
- The Migration Opt Out deadline has now been postponed to October 7, 2022. What this means to you is that if you do not want your funds migrated to Qenta Inc., all outgoing wire transfer requests should be made no later than October 7th inside eBanking, to another account in the same name (first party), or beneficial owner’s name if you hold a corporate account.
- If you are considering opting in, please note that even after the metals and cash are migrated to Qenta, customers can request at any time for funds to be sent to an account in his or her name at another institution via eBanking.
Summary of Recent Events
- 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
- Interactive Brokers awaiting further information from receiver to transfer client positions to new brokerage accounts
- Mutual fund sell orders awaiting approval from Interactive Brokers, its custodian
- Euro Pacific Bank’s correspondent bank will begin processing transactions in collaboration with the receiver
- Blocked accounts to be temporarily unblocked by Euro Pacific Bank so customers may provide missing information for accounts to remain active with Qenta or to wire available funds to a destination account in their name and the subsequent closing of the account. Otherwise accounts will remain blocked.
Migration Opt Out Update: September 28, 2022
Published: September 28, 2022
Dear Customers,
This is a follow up to our last update on September 16, 2022. We continue to work with our custodians and stakeholders, including the OCIF-appointed receiver to ensure the liquidation process is completed according to plan.
We acknowledge that outgoing wire transfers are still delayed since our last update on September 16, 2022. The delay continues to result from the OCIF-appointed receiver’s ongoing discussions with our custodians, i.e. our correspondent bank for outgoing wire transfers and Interactive Brokers for brokerage asset transfers.
Specifically, our custodians requested from the receiver several documents—personal and regulatory—which are in the final stages of being fulfilled. Unfortunately, we have limited involvement in this process, as our custodians are required to deal exclusively with the receiver.
Despite the delays, Euro Pacific Bank has maintained 100% of customer cash on-demand and ready to withdraw through the entirety of this receivership.
Latest Update
- As a reminder, Euro Pacific Bank customers will be migrated to Qenta on the transfer date unless a customer elects to opt-out of the transfer. The planned transfer date is September 29, 2022, however the actual transfer date will be dependent on when the receiver and the correspondent bank processes all wires. As mentioned before, we do not have control over these delays, but we continue to stay abreast and will keep you informed.
- We anticipate all precious metal holdings will be transferred by September 30, 2022, however we are still waiting on the receiver and the correspondent bank to complete their process for cash transfers to take place.
- Pursuant to the OCIF-approved Liquidation and Dissolution Plan, Euro Pacific Bank will be liquidated shortly after all funds have been transferred to customers who have opted out as well as those who are being migrated to Qenta. Regardless, our team continues to be here to serve you and will also be joining Qenta.
- Even after the transfer date, customers who have been migrated to Qenta can request funds at any time by entering the wire request in eBanking with details of a destination account in their name (first party).
- Current Euro Pacific Bank customers whose accounts are currently blocked will have access to their accounts during the period between September 29 and October 7, 2022 only for the purpose of providing missing information for such account to remain active with Qenta or to request the wire of the available funds to a destination account in their name and the subsequent closing of the account. Such wires shall be processed, and the corresponding funds will be transferred, when the correspondent bank and receiver complete their process (even if that were to happen after October 7, 2022). After such date, such accounts will once again be placed under review by Qenta, with limited functionality.
Further FAQs will be shared this week, and the Qenta team will have another Customer Townhall meeting on Monday October 10, 2022. In the meantime, please continue to direct all queries to [email protected].
Summary of Recent Events
- 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
- Euro Pacific Bank’s correspondent bank awaiting further information from receiver to process our client transactions
- Interactive Brokers awaiting further information from receiver to transfer client positions to new brokerage accounts
- Mutual fund sell orders awaiting approval from Interactive Brokers, its custodian
- Blocked accounts to be temporarily unblocked by Euro Pacific Bank so customers may provide missing information for accounts to remain active with Qenta or to wire available funds to a destination account in their name and the subsequent closing of the account. Otherwise accounts will remain blocked.