Ricardo Salgado

Ricardo Salgado during the Horasis Global China Business Meeting 2009

Ricardo Espírito Santo Salgado (born June 25, 1944 in Cascais , Portugal ) is a Portuguese private banker from the Espírito Santo family. The Espírito Santo family is one of the most influential entrepreneurial families in Portugal and has helped shape the country's economic fortunes for more than 100 years. Salgado was head of the family clan for 22 years, at the head of the largest private bank in Portugal, Banco Espírito Santo (BES) and the superordinate family holding Grupo Espírito Santo (GES) until his resignation and arrest in mid-July 2014.

education

As the great-grandson of José Maria do Espírito Santo Silva and the maternal grandson of Ricardo Ribeiro do Espírito Santo Silva, Salgado came from the illustrious founding family Espírito Santo. He spent the first years of his life in Lisbon , in the Lapa district by the Jardim da Estrela park, where he attended a public primary school and later the Pedro Nunes Lyceum . In 1969 he graduated from the Instituto Superior de Ciências Económicas e Financeiras (College of Finance and Economics - today ISEG) of the Technical University of Lisbon with a degree in economics. He then did military service in the Navy - from 1961 to 1974 there were aspiring independence movements in the Portuguese colonies in Africa. He trained as a reserve officer before joining his family's Banco Espírito Santo Comercial de Lisboa in 1972.

Professional background

In 1972 he took over the management of the office for economic studies at Banco Espírito Santo Comercial. He headed the credit department until 1975. After the Carnation Revolution in April 1974, which ended the right-wing dictatorship, not only was the bank nationalized , but various other family companies, including companies in the energy, beverage and pulp industries. The young officers who overthrew the dictatorship saw the BES as a financier of the Estado Novo (1932–1974) under António de Oliveira Salazar and Marcelo Caetano . Leading members of the family clan went into exile in Brazil, Switzerland and Great Britain.

They benefited from the wide network of influential family contacts that they had built up over the decades. During the Second World War she became friends and was the host of the British ex- king Edward VIII and the man who would later become Spain's King Juan Carlos I , among many other people from the high and money nobility. The rebuilding of the Grupo Espirito Santo Group (GES) in exile was achieved through funding from the US investment bank JP Morgan and Royal Bank of Canada ; it was further supported by members of other family dynasties, including the Italian Agnelli family, as well as the Rothschild and Rockefeller families. GES built banks and businesses in Brazil, Angola, USA and elsewhere. Ricardo Salgado lived first in Brazil (1976–1982), then in Switzerland (1982–1991). With the social democrat Mário Soares , stability returned to Portuguese politics and economy - Soares gave the Espírito Santos back their old ownership rights. In 1986 Salgado set about founding the Banco Internacional de Crédito , at a time when the constitution did not yet allow reprivatisation. This bank was later taken over by BES.

In 1975 he co-founded ES International Holding in Luxembourg, the ultimate parent company of the Espirito Santo Group (GES). The establishment of two main sub-holdings followed: the Espirito Santo Financial Group was founded in 1984, which was geared towards financial investments. And in 1983 Espirito Santo Resources was founded for a portfolio of the family's investments that had nothing to do with the financial sector.

In 1991 the family also got the Espírito Santo bank back, Salgado returned to Portugal from his exile and became the executive presidency of the BES. A phase began that led to an increase in the market share from 8% to 20% and the internationalization of BES. In 2002 he was appointed to the supervisory board of Euronext NV (Amsterdam), where he was involved in the 2006 merger of Euronext with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), of which he was a non-executive board member until 2011.

Business flourished and the family's fortunes continued to grow; the family's shares in BES alone reached around three billion euros in 2007. From 2003 to 2012 Salgado was a non-executive director of Banco Bradesco (Brazil). He became President of the Executive Commission and Vice President of the Board of Directors of the BES, as well as a member of the Supreme Council of the Espírito Santo Group. At the same time, he was CEO of the Espírito Santo Financial Group (based in Luxembourg) and the Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento (BESI). He is also on the boards of Espírito Santo Bank of Florida (USA), ES International Holding ( Luxembourg ), Espírito Santo Resources ( Bahamas ), Banque Privée Espírito Santo ( Switzerland ) and Banque Espírito Santo et de la Vénétie (France) ) on.

Ricardo Salgado was the mentor of the internationalization of the BES by relying on the strategic triangle Africa , Brazil and Spain . In 2009 most of the assets of “Espirito Santo Resource” were merged into the new Luxembourg-registered holding “ Rioforte Investments”. Rioforte's investment focus was South America with offices in São Paulo. In 2011 the “international section” of the BES brought half of the profit. In 2012, the bank, headed by Ricardo Salgado, was the only one of the three large private banks in Portugal to increase its capital, relying only on its shareholders and the capital market, but not on taxpayers' money. In January 2013, BES was the only bank in Portugal to conduct operations with the aim of bringing Portugal back to the markets after the intervention of the Troika.

case

In May 2014, the central bank Banco de Portugal in Lisbon ordered a revision to clarify the financial stability and transparency of the BES. After the Espírito Santo International holding company became aware of financial irregularities and the BES share price suffered a dramatic slump, the central bank withdrew control of the BES on June 20, 2014 - after 144 years of the family - and replaced Ricardo Salgado, his cousin José Maria Ricciardi and his uncle José Maria Espírito Santo by the new President of the Executive Committee Vítor Bento, the Treasurer Moreiro Rato and the Executive Vice José Honórario. The Espirito Santo International Group, the Rioforte and also the third owner company, the Espirito Santo Financial Group (ESFG), had to file for bankruptcy.

On July 24, 2014, Salgado was arrested as part of an investigation on suspicion of money laundering and tax evasion in connection with the “ Operação Monte Branco ” (Operation White Mountain). This is an investigation against an organization that allegedly smuggled large sums of money past the tax authorities into Switzerland. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho himself attached great importance to the statement that a distinction had to be made between the “group” that had to solve their problems themselves and the “bank” that would not be dropped.

On July 30, the bank reported a half-year loss of 3.58 billion euros. The central bank announced on August 4, 2014 that the BES would be split into a “good” and a “bad” part. The BES was to be saved: as a bad bank , it and its shareholders take responsibility for problematic derivatives and promissory notes that the bank had issued with the partially insolvent companies of the Espírito Santo family. The “good bank” was nationalized, renamed “Novo Banco” and “recapitalized” with the 4.9 billion euros approved by the European Union . With that the danger was averted once GES and BES could drag the entire economy of the country into the abyss.

Parliament set up a commission of inquiry to deal with the BES / GES case - the largest banking scandal in Portuguese history - for 120 days. In particular, the roles of the Central Bank of Portugal and the Troika should be clarified. In its stress test, the ECB certified the BES to be one of the most solid financial institutions in Portugal. The Troika had not urged the BES to make use of the lines of credit available to troubled banks in Portugal. The Central Bank of Portugal had been aware of the financial problems of the Espírito Santo banking family since the beginning of 2014, but allowed the bank to implement a capital increase of over one billion euros seven weeks before the collapse. In November 2014, Ricardo Salgado refused to meet the auditors from Deloitte , who were supposed to conduct the forensic investigation and clear up the transfers via the Channel Islands . He felt he was wrongly prejudiced.

Honors

In 1992 the Portuguese Association of Economists named him Economist of the Year, and in 2001 it was the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce in Brazil that made him Personality of the Year. In 1994 he was appointed Chevalier de l ' Ordre national du Mérite and in 2005 Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur of France, and in 1998 he was appointed Grand Officer of the Order of the Southern Cross of Brazil.

In 2012 he was named Commander of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary and, in the Lifetime Achievement in Financial Markets category, at the Investor Relations and Governance Awards 2012, an initiative by Deloitte that recognizes “good practice” in the corporate sector.

In July 2013, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Lisbon , where he was honored for his achievements in the fields of business, culture, science and for the services rendered by the university.

literature

• Maria João, Gago Babo: O Último Banqueiro. Alfragide: Lua de Papel, 2014. ISBN 978-989-23-2808-9

Web links

• The last banker of the Holy Spirit , FAZ, July 21, 2014
• Ficheiros BES - "Exmos. Senhores": o que o Banco de Portugal já sabia eo que o GES ainda escondia , Expresso , November 16, 2014. Secret documents from which it can be seen who and how early on the state of the entire Espirito-Santo- Family knew.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ex-boss of Espirito Santo arrested , FAZ July 24, 2014
2. ^ The usual banker, Diário Económico
3. ↑ Biography Ricardo Salgado ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Jasper Sky: Espirito Santo Group: How it all started , Deutsche Welle, September 24, 2014
5. ↑ Biography Ricardo Salgado ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ^ The usual banker, Diário Económico
7. ↑ The Deep Fall of the Espirito Santo Dynasty , Handelszeitung, August 5, 2014
8. ↑ Biography Ricardo Salgado ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ O banqueiro do costume , Diário Económico July 24, 2011
10. ↑ As the best avoided taxpayers money, revised audit
11. ↑ Barcalys, German Bank, Morgan Stanley, BES go back to the market, Diário Económico
12. ↑ http://www.wsj.de/article/SB10001424052702303996604580088602261734266.html
13. ↑ Espírito Santo Group in Portugal Bank Rescue at Family Expenses , SZ, August 4, 2014
14. ↑ Salgado recusa reunião com Deloitte na auditoria forense do Banco de Portugal , jornaldenegocios.pt, November 13, 2014
15. ^ Tilo Wagner: Portugal's banking scandal 120 days to clear up , Deutsche Welle, November 17, 2014
16. ↑ Biography Ricardo Salgado ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
17. ↑ Investor Relations and Governance Awards 2012
18. ↑ Biography Ricardo Salgado ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.