Over a dozen van loads of Portugal’s feared riot police were called out today to stop a crowd of angry protestors from storming Novo Banco’s head office in Lisbon.
During the demonstration an appeal was made to the prime minister that he should make a decision before the election that "respects fairness and social responsibility" and hand them their money back.
At issue is the missing €527 million that depositors lost when BES went bust last August as their money had been used to buy commercial paper in failing Grupo Espírito Santo companies, hence was not covered by the government’s €100,000 deposit guarantee.
The Association of Indignant and Deceived Customers (AIEPC) somehow has convinced itself that the Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho will decide in favour of returning the money before the parliamentary elections on October 4th.
Hundreds of emigrants who lost money in the fiasco have returned to Portugal for their summer holidays and were in an angry mood today with some jostling going on with the riot police. Thankfully, no injuries or arrests were reported.
The emigrants had joined the home team of BES depositors which has been invading various Novo Banco branches in recent months to highlight their plight.
Alberto Neves, vice president of the association, hopes the PM “will make a decision before the elections in order that justice is done because the executive organ of sovereignty has the task of safeguarding the weakest citizens, not the bankers."
Neves warned also that potential buyers of Novo Banco - Anbang, Fosun and Apollo - "must take into account this customer group, both the emigrants and those resident in Portugal, because the robustness and future of Novo Banco depends on them.”
The association president already has written to the three potential buyers of Novo Banco to make them aware fully of the situation and the behaviour to date of the Bank of Portugal, Novo Banco and the Treasury all of which deny responsibility for the BES claimants’ predicament.
The demonstrators also are incensed that the governor of the Bank of Portugal, at whose feet they lay the blame for their missing funds due to a total lack of regulation and oversight of BES, earns more than his counterparts at the German Federal Reserve and the US Treasury, “this is a sign that the financial system in Portugal is in a deep crisis of values and ethical standards."
There has been some legal action though as last Friday the Administrative Court in Lisbon received an injunction filed by the depositors’ association which requires that the Bank of Portugal inform the buyer of Novo Banco that it will liable to pay back 2,500 BES customers around €530 million and that this amount should be registered as an impairment in the Novo Banco accounts.
The parties involved, including the Bank of Portugal which denies all responsibility for its failure to regulate BES, now have 10 days to oppose the injunction.
