It's a $uce$$ story, though.
"Portugal bank collapse and rescue raise questions" by Barry Hatton | Associated Press August 05, 2014
LISBON — A new Portuguese bank appeared Monday, born from the ruins of a collapsed business empire, and declared on its website that it is now ‘‘stronger and safer.’’
Investors rattled by the eurozone’s latest financial drama will, however, need more reassurances.
Portugal’s biggest banking scandal, which compelled authorities on Sunday to put up $6.6 billion to prevent the collapse of Banco Espirito Santo, raised questions about how regulators were apparently hoodwinked.
Uh-huh. I'm sure it is, as we found here at home with the kickback settlements, they "regulators" were in on it. It's a banker's pre$$ so they will only go $o far.
I'm glad to know the poverty-stricken and austerity-laden Portuguese people picked up the tab, though.
It will also focus minds on the European Union’s yearlong health check of the banking sector, for which results are due in October.
Aaaaah! Having my mind focused.
The debt crisis that in recent years battered countries sharing the euro currency, forcing Greece, Ireland, and Portugal to request bailouts, has ebbed in recent months.
Interesting that you would mention those two nations. I just updated my Greece file, and Ireland is not that far behind.
See:
Bond yields reflect Ireland’s gains
Case in which abortion is denied reignites controversy over Irish law
That's the latest that has been dug up by the Globe. Good enough for you?
Investors remain wary, though. They fear that more nasty surprises could be around the corner, and the scandal surrounding Banco Espirito Santo’s huge unreported debts is fueling those concerns.
This is so strange to me because I was led to believe by my ma$$ media that everything is all right now, everything's fine, we want you $leep well tonight.
I mean six years of recovery and record profits and somehow.... $igh.
Barclays analysts predicted investors will ‘‘remain guarded about risks which could stem from latent problems in the [Portuguese] financial system.’’ Lisbon’s difficulties demonstrated ‘‘the major surgery that Europe still has to undergo with respect to its economic and banking problems,’’ said a note from CMC Markets UK.
The European Central Bank, the eurozone’s main regulator, is examining the books of more than 100 of the bloc’s top banks. The goal is to weed out the lame ones, helping to ensure financial markets have faith in the banking system. The Banco Espirito Santo case could undermine that effort.
That drew a smile from me, as if anyone outside their elite club had "faith" in the $elf-$erving financial $y$tem. HA-HA-HA-HA!
Portuguese authorities sought late Sunday to extinguish the Espirito Santo wildfire by splitting it into two banks: a new one, called Novo Banco, which keeps the company’s healthy businesses and will later be sold, and a ‘‘bad bank’’ that will hold toxic assets and retain the Banco Espirito Santo name. The bad bank will be put into liquidation, meaning it will cease to exist once the bad investments are dealt with.
Notice there is no "good" bank, only a "bad" and "new" one.
Officials had last month attempted to halt the bank’s collapsing share price by insisting the bank had sound finances and that private investors were ready to take it over. That was until the true picture emerged last week: The bank reported a record half-year loss of $4.8 billion, trading in its shares was suspended, and the Espirito Santo family’s three main holding companies sought bankruptcy protection.
Bank of Portugal governor Carlos Costa conceded in a televised statement close to midnight Sunday that officials had been duped by a type of Ponzi scheme in which cash and debts were shifted around the Espirito Santo family’s tourism-to-health care business empire on four continents.
You know, regardle$$ of what you think of the bank THIS $Y$TEM $UCKS!
Costa said the bank’s activities ‘‘were in clear violation of Bank of Portugal rules’’ and used ‘‘fraudulent schemes.’’
Police suspect Ricardo Espirito Santo Salgado, the chief executive who stepped down last month, of fraud, forgery and money laundering at the bank, whose business dates from the 19th century and has been one of Portugal’s most venerable financial institutions, as well as for years its biggest private bank.
OMG!
The 21st-century looter baron bankers destroyed a financial fixture and foundation that existed for centuries.
What a crew. We have been ble$$ed to have lived at the end time and $een this crop in action.
I was angry and furious about it all as the sadness has enveloped me this past few weeks, but not now.
These are GLORIOUS TIMES as we witness the RANK CORRUPTION DESTROYING EVERYTHING AROUND US!
It isn't "terrorists" or me here blogging!
They are $ELF-DE$TRUCTIVE and there is NO NEED to DO or SAY ANYTHING!
‘‘International experience shows that schemes of this kind are very hard to detect before they collapse, especially when it takes place in different countries,’’ Costa said.
Can't they call the NSA?
Just as worryingly, Costa said that an audit by the central bank of Banco Espirito Santo had detected problems 11 months ago. He said the central bank had attempted to ring-fence the problems, without elaborating.
HA-HA-HA-HA!
They TRIED TO COVER IT UP and it DIDN'T TAKE!
So much for "hard to detect," blah, blah, blah.
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
It remains unclear why action to shore up the bank was not taken back then.
Is it?
Some Portuguese politicians are demanding an inquiry into how Banco Espirito Santo slipped through the net of supervision.
PFFFFFFFFT!
Costa did not take reporters’ questions after his statement.
European stress tests of banks in 2009, 2010, and 2011 — conducted not by the European Central Bank but by another EU office with fewer powers — fell short of convincing markets.
Some banks passed the tests on paper but needed bailouts soon afterward. Banco Espirito Santo passed them all and was the only major Portuguese bank to not require any public aid during the country’s bailout program.
Simon O’Connor, a spokesman for the EU’s economic and monetary affairs commissioner, argued that Banco Espirito Santo was a special case. Its woes should not be taken as a sign of systemic weakness, neither for the eurozone as a whole nor for Portugal, he said.
Oh, okay.
(Blog editor is cackling, hey. This is too much, man. I can't stop laughing!)
The rescue money will come from a special fund set up during the eurozone crisis that is designed to help financial institutions in difficulty.
These bankers, they always have $pecial funds -- otherwise known as the on switch to they printing pre$$ -- set up. Ha-ha-ha-ha. I can't.... ha-ha-ha-ha-ha...
That means Portugal does not have to raise new taxes to get the money or apply for more help from the EU.
Taxes will have the people in street, if not already.
--more--"
Related: Is Portugal Next in Line for Wealth Confiscation?
I looked in my Globe for that but found nothing, and that ain't funny at all!!!! Some are even calling it progress: Portugal bank bailout means progress in Europe
