At long last the Prime Minister has voiced his opinion on the Bank of Portugal’s endless delays in sorting out those investors who has their BES investments wiped out.
António Costa believes that the lack of regulatory action from the Bank of Portugal has been ‘lamentable’ and that he can’t believe that not a single public body is responsible.
The prime minister accused the Bank of Portugal of "dragging out the decision" on how to compensate those affected by the BES investment scandal who have lost €530 million, saying the regulator is preventing a solution that already has been accepted by the parties involved.
Costa considered the way this has all been dragging on as unacceptable, "which is dramatic for those many families who entrusted their savings to an institution and many of them were snared in this debacle."
In the most direct accusation yet, the prime minister calls on the regulator to behave responsibly.
"I have to lament how the administration of the Bank of Portugal has been putting off a decision on this matter to prevent the swift solution proposed by the Government and accepted by the majority of the BES victims which could already have been implemented."
In contrast, the prime minister praised the Securities Market Commission's conduct, which he said from the outset adhered to the government's proposal for a swift resolution. He also praised the positive attitude of the BES investors and of Novo Banco’s management, but added that all of this has been blocked by the Bank of Portugal’s intransigence.
António Costa’s view is that, "the State can not simply say that it has nothing to do with it," which is why he proposed the establishment of a conciliation mechanism for mediation and arbitration.
Ricardo Ângelo of the Association of injured BES investors said the prime minister’s statements today are "a sign of hope" for the process to be concluded.
The Bank of Portugal's governor Carlos Costa has yet to respond to the prime minister's fiercest criticism yet but must realise that the scene is being set for his replacement after a series of banking scandals whose genesis has been a lack of regulation.
