Leading Portuguese bank Banco Espirito Santo (BES) was in turmoil on Friday after press reports said its chief executive was about to leave the company and trading in its shares was suspended. Stock market authorities told the company to clarify the status of its chief executive Ricardo Salgado, 69, who has headed the company for 23 years.
His family, the Espirito Santos, lost their controlling stake in Portugal's largest listed lender after it raised 1.04 billion euros ($1.4 billion) of capital last week.
The bank is also the target of controversy over allegations that its main holding company, Espirito Santo International, had concealed losses.
Press reports allege that the holding company had not revealed a loss of 180 million euros in 2008 when the financial crisis preceding the debt crisis began.
Comments
Comments are closed.