The Espírito Santo Financial Group (ESFG) is a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Port ...

holding company with headquarters in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

, founded in 1984. The group represents the interests of the Portuguese ''Espirito Santo Group'', which has major investments in Portugal and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, Americas,

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and

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. The company is listed on the NYSE Euronext and the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pa ...

. The

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the f ...

of ESFG is the

Banco Espírito Santo Banco Espírito Santo (BES) was a Portuguese bank based in Lisbon that on 4 August 2014 was split in two banks: Novo Banco, which kept its healthy operations, and a "bad bank" to keep its toxic assets. It once was the second-largest listed Por ...

(BES), a full-service

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becau ...

based in Lisbon. The bank has subsidiaries within and outside of the Portuguese-speaking business world. Through its subsidiaries, ESFG provides a series of banking services that are centered in the Banco Espirito Santo. These are general insurance services (Tranquilidade) and health services (BES Saúde). In addition to the Banco Espirito Santo in Portugal,

Azores ) , motto= ( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem=( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

and

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

, BES has branches in

Luanda Luanda () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major Angola#Economy, industrial, Angola#Culture, cultural and Angola#Demographics, urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atl ...

, as well as branches or offices in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

Praia Praia (, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

Lausanne Lausanne ( , , , ) ; it, Losanna; rm, Losanna. is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French speaking canton of Vaud. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway between the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and fac ...

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Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...

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Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

and the Cayman Islands. In May 2014, it was disclosed, in a rights issue document of Banco Espírito Santo, the major shareholder(Espirito Santo International) of the group was in “serious financial condition” and accounting “irregularities" were found after an external audit was ordered by the Bank of Portugal. ESFG owned 25% of Banco Espírito Santo and Espírito Santo International owned 49% of ESFG. The

Government of Portugal The Government of Portugal is one of the four sovereignty bodies of the Portuguese Republic, together with the President of the Republic, the Assembly of the Republic and the courts. It is both the body of sovereignty that conducts the general p ...

and Portugal's biggest bank,

Caixa Geral de Depósitos Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) () is a Portuguese state-owned banking corporation, and the largest bank in Portugal, established in Lisbon in 1876. CGD now has presence in 23 countries spanning four continents through branches, representative ...

, refused assistance to the group. Long time CEO,

Ricardo Salgado Ricardo Espírito Santo Silva Salgado (born June 25, 1944) is a Portuguese economist and convicted banker. President of Banco Espírito Santo, which was founded by his grandfather, he was, until July 2014, the banker active for the longest tim ...

resigned in July 2014, on pressure by the Bank of Portugal. Prior to its downfall, it came to public attention that the group had several dealings and associations with

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

and

tax avoidance Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisd ...

cases, such as the bribery case over the acquisition of submarines and the

Panama Papers The Panama Papers ( es, Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 ...

scandal. The potential of a default of the group's obligations caused great concern among creditors. On 11 July 2014,

, partially owned by ESFG, disclosed that it has a buffer of 2.1 billion euros above the regulatory minimum; enough to cover its exposure to debt in the Espirito Santo Financial Group.

File for bankruptcy

On 18 July 2014 the Espirito Santo family’s holding company, which owns a stake in Portugal’s second-largest bank, has filed for creditor protection, meaning that it is bankrupt.

Operations

;Related organizations :

Commercial banking A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with co ...

* Banco Espírito Santo Azores * Banco Espírito Santo Angola (BESA) * Bank Espírito Santo International in the Cayman Islands * Banco Espírito Santo Espanha in Spain * Espírito Santo Bank based in

in the United States * Banque Espírito Santo et de la Venetie in France * Banco Espírito Santo do Oriente based in

* Banco Espirito Santo Cabo Verde * ES Bank Panama in

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

* Banco Espirito Santo Venezuela * Banco Best (Banco Electrónico de Serviço Total, S.A.) :

Financial services Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companie ...

* Compagnie Bancaire Espírito Santo in Switzerland *ESAF - Espírito Santo Activos Financeiros * Espírito Santo Activos Financieros Spain :

Insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

and Healthcare In Portugal: * Companhia de Seguros Tranquilidade "Traquilidade" * Companhia de Seguros Tranquilidade Vida * Espirito Santo Companhia de Seguros * Espírito Santo Saúde (Hospitals) * Europ Assistance Portugal / Europ Assistance :

Investment banking Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

* Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento * Banco Internationale de Credito * BES Investimento do Brasil in Brazil * Espírito Santo Investment in Spain :Other In Portugal: * Besleasing e Factoring * Crediflash ''

credit cards A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

'' * ES Capital ''

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...

'' The bank owns a small part of

Banque Marocaine du Commerce Extérieur Bank of Africa is a large commercial bank in Morocco, known until 2020 as Banque Marocaine du Commerce Extérieur (BMCE, (; "Moroccan Bank of Foreign Commerce"). According to the company's website, it operates over 697 branches in Morocco. It is ...

, a bank in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Espirito Santo Financial Group Banks of Portugal

File for bankruptcy

Operations

See also

References

External links