Bank of Portugal says Government him “announced” the end of Banif – Express

The final decision was formally the Bank of Portugal, but the resolution of Banif and sale of their business to Santander were the solution pointed out by the Government and the European Commission, leaving no room for the central bank would opt for another route .

this is the story of the end of Banif in the version told by the Bank of Portugal (boP), according to minutes and other banking supervisor documents that arrived this week to the parliamentary committee of inquiry.

In these documents – “Technical note on the remedial measures applied to Banif and the associated process” – the regulator goes on to write that the Ministry of Finance “announced” the central bank ” analyzed the use of alternatives, “Banif case the solution would be resolution and disposition activity.

In the case of BES, Carlos Costa has always assumed responsibility for the decision to end the bank – refuting all suspicions arose about the responsibility of the Government on the outcome – in the case of Banif is the opposite: bop seems to pass as the notary of a decision given by the Minister of Finance as inevitable, following the wishes of the European Commission. A very different version of the withdrawing of the letters Centeno sent to the governor and who has also come to the commission of inquiry: these, the finance minister says is surprised by fait accompli that the governor told him. Incidentally, Centeno is not the only one to complain about the amazing letters from the governor: had passed the same with their predecessors.

The minutes of the extraordinary meeting of the bop of the board of directors of December 19 (the time it officially forward the process of the resolution, which would be enacted in the next day) is eloquent on the film of events in version supervisor. “On 16 December 2015, the Minister of Finance informed the Bank of Portugal, before the succession of circumstances and havidos developments in the voluntary transfer process, especially with the inability to build a medium-term viability scenario for Banif that . was accepted by the European Commission did not seem to be left no alternative but to pass the resolution Banif in a context where soçobrasse voluntary disposal solution “history repeats itself the next day:” on 17 December 2015, the Minister of Finance informed the Bank of Portugal, as the clear and explicit position of the European Commission, it is not possible to implement the sale of Banif under a voluntary process, should take place the sale of their activity on the implementation of the framework to the bank of a measurement resolution. “

it fell to the ground the preferred solution by the Bank of Portugal, which passed a new injection of public money in the bank, as Carlos Costa had argued about a month before.

As the Express reported in its December 24 edition, the governor surprised Maria Luís Albuquerque with a letter on November 17 in which he defended a public recapitalization of the bank, taking into account that not Banif shareholders were able to this is not the institution was able to attract new investors. A rejected solution in very harsh terms, by the Minister of Finance, who was leaving, and also set aside by the European institutions – which, moreover, were on the verge of considering illegal the aid of 1.1 billion euros that the State had already provided the bank in January 2013. Interestingly, in the same minutes, in this case was Mario Centeno to communicate the bad news the central bank: “on 17 December 2015, the finance minister also gave notice to Banco de Portugal of the opposition expressed by the European Commission to carry out a mandatory recapitalization using the public investment. ”

In this context, with Banif “at risk or insolvent,” the banking supervisor comes to the conclusion that “in these circumstances, and in view of the available alternatives, the Bank of Portugal considers the application of a resolution measure is the only solution. ”