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The president of Novo Banco began by framing the sale of the bank and stated that they opted for a solution that would maintain “Banco Uno” and a “constant and annual capitalization rate”, guaranteeing the “best possible result”.
With the sale of the bank, António Ramalho explained, “A restructuring process began until 2020, with the aim of cleaning up the balance sheet and also developing the resulting bank”. We seek “a solution that would minimize and benefit the rating of the Republic” and “the bank remained one, the rate of constant and annual capitalization was maintained, in order to ensure that we had the best possible result of this structure.”
“Between the period in which the sale was decided and the period in which the sale was made, the Republic’s interest rates fell from four to 1.9 percent”continued the president of the executive. “It may be a coincidence, but for me there are no coincidences.”
“A state aid agreement was necessary, signed between the Portuguese State and the European Union, where a set of commitments was defined, which the bank is obliged to fulfill”he added.
“Of the losses, more than 95 percent are caused by losses before 2014, there is not a single credit, a single new name that has been granted after the resolution.”said António Ramalho.
The official also said that asset sales carried out in recent years occurred because the bank was obliged to do so, complying with international bidding rules, with specialized advice and scrutiny.
António Ramalho considered that in the last three months the Novo Banco received an “unprecedented series of criticisms” and remained “silent within the limits of its possibilities” because the audit was being carried out, but now “the cycle of silence has ended and the cycle of clarifications has begun.”
Deloitte’s audit of the management acts of BES / Novo Banco refers to the period between 2000 and 2018 (that is, it covers both the period before and after the resolution of BES and the creation of Novo Banco), has been in execution since last year and should have been completed in July, after being handed over to the government on Tuesday.
According to information obtained by Lusa, Deloitte delivered the complete audit to Novo Banco, Banco de Portugal and the Resolution Fund. The Ministry of Finance received an audit without the names of the credit clients, parts subject to bank secrecy.
Even so, when sending the report to parliament, the Government indicated the mention of confidentiality
The president of the Budget and Finance Commission, Filipe Neto Brandão, told Lusa on Tuesday that the deputies have full access to the document, but through computers that have software to protect classified digital information, which tracks the query. .
Regarding the public disclosure of the document, the president of the parliamentary commission said that he determined that the legal services identify the parties protected by bank secrecy or others that justify confidentiality, so the rest of the report is disclosed on the parliament’s website for public knowledge.
The PS deputy estimated that this would happen in the “short term.”
This audit was already the reason for political confrontation, since last May between the Prime Minister, António Costa, the then Minister of Finance, Mário Centeno, and the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, after the Head of Government. He said that the capital injection in Novo Banco would only be made after the audit was known when said injection had already been carried out (for an amount of 1,035 million euros).
In June and July, Novo Banco’s asset sale business was disclosed to the press, which generated mistrust in the different political neighborhoods and, in July, the Government indicated that Novo Banco should not carry out operations to sell new portfolios assets until the audit is complete. known.
On Tuesday morning, the Ministry of Finance said, in a statement, that it had received the external audit report and that “it will be sent to the Attorney General’s Office considering the constitutional and legal powers of the Public Ministry.”
According to the Government, the report reveals net losses of 4,042 million euros in Novo Banco (between August 4, 2014, one day after the resolution of BES, and December 31, 2018) and “describes a set of deficiencies and serious deficiencies in BES, until 2014, in the granting of credit and investment in financial and real estate assets.
Born in the BES resolution (on August 3, 2014), 75% of Novo Banco was sold in October 2017 to the North American investment fund Lone Star, keeping the Bank Resolution Fund at 25%, in an agreed solution between the Bank of Portugal and the Government.
At the time of the sale, a contingent capital mechanism was agreed, which foresees that in 2026 the Resolution Fund will compensate Novo Banco for the losses on a set of assets that it ‘inherited’ from BES up to 3,890 million euros.
Since then and to date, the Resolution Fund has injected 2,976 million euros and can still invest more than 900 million euros, values that each year have an impact on public accounts since the Resolution Fund is a State entity .
c / The day after tomorrow
