Luis Amado, former “chairman” of Banif, between 2012 and 2015, believes that from 2015 the beginning there was a break in the “excellent cooperation” hitherto existing between the Ministry of Finance, Bank of Portugal and the Council of Banif Administration. Identified then it formed a “perfect storm” whose final result was the resolution of the Madeiran bank.
Former Foreign Minister talks Wednesday in the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) to process which led to the settlement and sale of Banif, after on Tuesday have already been heard Joaquim Marques dos Santos and George Thomas, former presidents of the bank.
“throughout 2013 and 2014 there was an excellent cooperation between the government, the Bank of Portugal and the Board of Directors, “noted Luis Amado in the initial intervention to Members. This good relationship was important to start the recovery process of the bank, since “trust is an essential pillar in the banking sector.”
According to the former chairman of Banif, the cooperation between 2013 and 2014 between the Portuguese authorities and the bank led to “important results”, naming then cleaning the bank’s balance sheet and the strengthening of the institution’s liquidity levels. These improvements allowed “restore confidence” in the bank, something that should have become “the restructuring and capitalization of the bank easier to perform.” But cooperation eventually come to an end.
Cooperation comes to an end
“I would say that this level of cooperation between the institutions no longer have the same consistency 2013 and 2014 from the beginning of 2015, “said Amado, naming the various facts that contributed to this breakdown:” the resolution of BES, changes in government, the central bank and to the European Commission and the Directorate general for Competition EC (DGCom) but it was mainly the impact of the resolution of BES. “
According to Luís Amado, was the resolution of BES that” somehow affected terms of payment of the last tranche of the contingent capital [signed by State] in debt at the end of 2014 and that created some hesitation regarding the way forward, especially after the DGCom have decided to return to the restructuring model that had been left behind. “
the former manager Banif returns this way the argument already before mentioned by Jorge Tomé, that the exchange of the European Commissioner for Competition of Almunia to Vestager led to a setback of all Banif project at European level, with the return of the idea of creating a “bank of the islands”, something that had been scratched with Almunia.
“the insistence to resume the original idea of DGCom, the commissioner of the change of context, created disturbances in a process that stemmed exemplarily” secured Amado.
Roll bureaucratic compressor
the manager also isolated the hesitation in renewing the mandate of the administration, led by Jorge Tomé in mid 2015 that occurred “at the time that already anticipated the advance of thorough investigation” of the EC, which required “necessary cohesion between the key actors to deal with an extremely aggressive bureaucratic power center with a root of prejudice against Banif ever abandoned and somehow led to the final result, “he stressed.
According to Luís Amado, these circumstances, combined with the political stalemate in the country also fell, apart from news to come out of the Banif, created a “perfect storm” on the bank. According to the former chairman, “given the best condition of the balance sheet and the liquidity of the bank, and the confidence that would ensure, in September seemed to be conditions to approve a restructuring plan”.
But this is not found: “the political vacuum created by the transition from one government to the other led to DGCom, of course, to impose its rules and the development of the restructuring process has been called into question and from that time the bank entered a crisis of confidence series . “the news of TVI, gave the final touch:” a hasty and unimaginable news worsened even more dramatically, the bank’s liquidity situation. It was in this context that the resolution came up and the resolution is a state decision, “pointed out to Members.
Although the final decision is the state, different is the perspective from which this idea was born, reflected Luís Amado. “Center of gravity of the decision must be determined, as the alternative options that existed at resolution, I believe that this is the object of this commission,” challenged the CPI.
For the former manager of the Madeiran bank, Banif outcome was “to die on the beach”, after several years of restructuring, a recovery that ensures, “was blocked by the changing environment we live in this phase, and on the horizon the banking union and the juggernaut that has caused situations such a little throughout the eurozone, “he said.
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