Their banking partners probably know the owners identity...unless they somehow avoided that?


Unless something changed you are correct.
In Feb marketwatch.com called them an "Internet black hole"
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2014/02/27/bitcoin-exchange-btc-e-a-mt-gox-alternative-is-an-internet-black-hole

I still use btc-e for ~40% of my trading.