Clients file MFSA complaints on ‘millions’ lost in investments

The financial services firm chaired by Alfred Mifsud, a former Super One and Mid-Med Bank chairman, has ‘condemned’ a report appearing in PN organ In-Nazzjon Taghna that claimed “millions” in euros were lost in investments held with Crystal Finance Investments.

“Crystal Finance condemns without reserve the sensationalist reporting published in In-Nazzjon Taghna and MaltaRightNow. These reports serve only to destabilize unnecessarily the investment services sector,” the firm said today.

The report quotes anonymous sources who have filed reports with the Malta Financial Services Authority to investigate investments by some 150 clients who say they lost their savings.

The clients told In-Nazzjon Taghna that they were only informed of the deteriorating level of their investments months after they started losing value.

“Crystal Finance Investments has an impeccable track record over 14 years during which it has always operated with maximum professionalism with all its clients,” the firm said.

“It is inevitable in investments that from time to time certain products do not perform up to expectations,” Crystal Finance said in a statement reacting to the report.

“However this affects a small part of the investment portfolio of clients. Diversification is the rule to mitigate such an effect, however the more one diversifies the higher the risk one runs of having an investment which underperforms.”

The firm said that it had an impeccable track record over 14 years, and that it has always dealt professionally with its clients, keeping them informed first hand in their best interest to safeguard their investment. “Crystal Finance Investments itself informed clients to consult with MFSA about their rights and continues to cooperate with the authorities as is it duty both ethically and legally.”

In-Nazzjon had published a graph showing that bonds in the company ‘Rena’ were worth €102 in December 2013 but are now worth almost nothing. Shares in ‘Mox Telecom’ used to cost €5.60 in July but now cost practically nothing too.

Clients told the PN newspaper that although these investments had failed months ago, Crystal Finance Investments only informed them about it a few days ago.

Some clients of Crystal Finance Investments also invested in ‘Air Berlin’, the share price of which decreased by half in the past six months. However, some of these clients told in-Nazzjon that they only discovered this news through the internet and from other clients.