Vítor Augusto Brinquete Bento, the current president of the ATM network company SIBS, is odds-on to become the new Chief Executive of troubled bank BES whose shares today rallied 8% on the news.
Bento, an economist and former government advisor, is a name that the Bank of Portugal has approved to run BES, a bank that is lurching from revelation to revelation in the dying days of Chief Executive Ricardo Salgado’s tenure.
The bank's formal AGM is to be held on June 19th when it is expected that Bento, an experienced and respected financial manager, will be voted in by shareholders. Agreement over Bento has been reached by 'the family' and Crédit Agricole which togther control over 40% of the bank's shares.
The Bank of Portugal officially has nothing to do with this selection process but behind the scenes it has been insistent on pre-approving the next boss for BES and has made it clear that anyone from within ‘the family’ of discredited BES relatives will not be acceptable.
Not heeding the Bank of Portugal's advice may well hinder the rescue plan currently being worked on to pull the once-proud institution out of the fiscal mire.
A previous candidate, Amílcar Morais Pires who is the current Chief Financial Officer of the bank, was put forward by 'the family' as its candidate. This idea soon was quashed as Pires was seen as part of the problem and unlikely to produce a solution.
Current CEO Ricardo Salgado soon may face criminal charges as a result of revelations today that he bought around 2 million shares in electricity supplier EDP at key moments during its privatisation between October and December 2011. Salgado is linked to an offshore company located in Panama through which the trades took place.
These insider trading activities have been uncovered as state prosecutor Jorge Rosário Teixeira continues his investigation into tax fraud, money laundering, insider trading, influence peddling and corruption in the privatisation of EDP, and as part of the Monte Branco investigation.
As adviser to EDP, Salgado was able to buy shares at the market price which he knew would rise as he was privy to the incoming bids for EDP and was privy to the agreement to set the final bid price which of course was above the share price at which he bought.
Salgado leaves a bank with internal family divisions, unreported liabilities, the concealment of losses and the manipulation of the annual accounts which Salgado rather weakly blamed on the accountant. He also faces questions over offshore companies Savoices, Lindsel and Quintus which he controls.
Salgado is also involved in the Portugal Telecom controversy where the group ended up with €897 million in corporate bonds issued by BES offshoot Rioforte which now is insolvent and may not be able to repay the sums due. PT's shares slumped accordingly and two of PT's main board directors have resigned as a result.
