The former head of Novo Banco, Vítor Bento, ‘let go’ for wishing to delay the bank’s sale until conditions improved, has said that one option for the bailed out bank it nationalisation.
Vítor Bento and the Bank of Portugal’s governor Carlos Costa did not see eye to eye over the timing of the sale of Novo Banco so he was replaced by Stock da Cunha at the helm of the ‘good bank’ that emerged from Costa’s disastrous solution to the BES collapse.
Bento was interviewed on Antena 1 this weekend and said that he believes that the nationalisation of Novo Banco may be a "way out" for the Government to solve the problem of the bank, but pointed to the need to "study the various alternatives."
The banker added that "considering Novo Banco as part of the State’s assets in the banking system, nationalisation “is a scenario that is worth thinking about," and that the future of the bank of course depends on a political decision.
In fact both the former and current government have distanced themselves from the politics of the BES-Novo Banco mess and have made it quite clear that Costa is acting as the governor of a wholly independent Bank of Portugal and it is not the government’s place to interfere.
Carlos Costa already once has failed to sell Novo Banco as the bids were so risibly low that he pulled the process before crystalising a loss of what would have been nearly €4 billion.
Bento, who took the top job at Novo Banco when Banco Espírito Santo collapsed in 2014, did not give a clear opinion on nationalisation, claiming not to have "sufficient information."
Even former president Cavaco Silva has spotted that if Novo Banco is sold at a loss, the political fallout will be significant after the Resolution Fund and the taxpayer pumped €4.9 billion into the BES 'solution.'
Vítor Bento also commented on the differences of opinion between the Prime Minister, António Costa, and the Governor of the Bank of Portugal, Carlos Costa, in relation to the BES depositors who are short of €550 million after BES management swapped deposits for shares in collapsing Grupo Espírito Santo companies - and have lost pretty much all of their cash.
Bento said that "the problem of the victims of BES should have been solved," claiming that when he left Novo Banco he "was convinced that it would be resolved in a relatively short time."
Swapping the public loan to Novo Banco for shares in the company has merit as it would take away the immediate pressure to sell the bank which is back on the block right now despite its unerring ability to trade at a loss.
