The Dubai Financial Services Authority today imposed harsh restrictions on Espírito Santo Bankers Dubai preventing it receiving or paying out money.
This freeze is designed to preserve the assets held locally in Dubai amid concerns that illegal transfers may be made to other parts of the failed Espírito Santo empire, or to individuals connected with the financial group.
The imposition of the restrictions was deemed necessary by the Dubai authorities due to the inability of Banque Privée Espírito Santo based in Switzerland to honour ‘contractual commitments’ to Espírito Santo Bankers in Dubai.
This is banking code for ‘we think you are broke’ as Espírito Santo Bankers Dubai had money on deposit in Switzerland which is due for return and the fact it has not been returned has led the Dubai authorities sensibly to conclude that there is no money in the Swiss offshoot to send back to Dubai, leaving Espírito Santo Bankers Dubai without sufficient assets to call itself a bank, and certainly not enough in reserve to operate as a deposit taker.
The failure of the Swiss bank to give the money back, incidentally the Swiss registered Banque Privée Espírito Santo is owned by José Manuel Espirito Santo, "seriously compromised the operations and solvency" of Espírito Santo Bankers Dubai," according to the strongçly worded statement by the regulator.
The regulator took action as soon as the Swiss bank defaulted and against the background of "the rapid development of financial difficulties of Espírito Santo Group in recent months.”
The Dubai Financial Services Authority stated today that the freezing of the operations of Espírito Santo Bankers Dubai is in the interests of depositors and other customers of the bank and that all asset transfers are blocked as of now.
The Dubai authorities also have revealed that it installed an interim manager to replace the local board of directors back in early August.
As the sprawling Espírito Santo banking group writhes in its death throws, regulators in Spain, France, Switzerland, Macau, Miami, Angola, UK, Brazil, Poland and numerous offshore tax havens may take action to protect their local depositors in the various Espírito Santo offshoots.
