Banif: worked as a ‘bad bank’? – publico

 
         

                 

                         
                     

                         

                 

 
 

There is the case of a client who received a new credit, even after having gone through a “financial restructuring” and getting due 500 000 euros to Banif, only default interest. an ‘interest forgiveness “was granted. And a new credit.

Other wanted to increase your credit line, which was 20 million euros. The proposal was evaluated and approved. Could now access through an “escrow account”, to 40 million, provided that reinforce the value of “collateral”, guarantees that the bank may use in case of default. Banif, however, decided to give him 50 million. . And foregone guarantees

Deloitte, the Bank of Portugal hired to do a forensic audit of the management of Banif, highlights these and other cases, in its March 2014 report – for more than two years . The Bank of Portugal opened “misdemeanor cases” and expressed the Banif administrators its concern at the “seriousness of the situations described.”

The report, to which the public had access, describes approved credits and hired “without there being a risk analysis”, which is an obvious “formal breach” of banking rules. More “. Approval of loans by the governing body, despite the opinion conditioning, unfavorable or even issuing layoff opinion by the credit analyst”

“operations were identified whose hiring date is prior to approval of the proposal, “the report continues. In borderline cases, the bank amounted to approve loans to customers to pay debts to the bank itself. And the list goes on charges of having the accounting records “miscalculated provisions” and a poor impairment log.

Antonio Varela, former administrator that the state appointed, in 2013, ranked Banif, a lively hearing of the inquiry committee, as “bad bank”. And this was the situation he found when he assumed functions. A bank without serious records, or functional computer system.

Something has changed, with Jorge Tomé management that Varela would integrate. The report states that change. But the question remains: how was it possible that such a bank would work in tighter supervision period “intrusive” in the history of Portuguese banks? By 2011 Banif had these shortcomings; in late 2012 it was injected public aid of 1.1 billion euros, on the assumption of being a “viable” bank; and in December 2015 it was resolved with a public loss of three thousand million.