The Espírito Santo Financial Group (ESFG) was a Portuguese holding company with headquarters in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, 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 continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. The company is listed on the

NYSE Euronext NYSE Euronext, Inc. was a Transatlantic relations, transatlantic Multinational corporation, multinational financial services corporation that operated multiple Stock exchange, securities exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext ...

and the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. The

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, 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 ...

of ESFG is the

Banco Espírito Santo Banco Espírito Santo (, BES) was a Portugal, Portuguese bank based in Lisbon that on 3 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 ...

(BES), a full-service

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, 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 m ...

based in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. 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 The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

and

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

, BES has branches in

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, as well as branches or offices in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Praia,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

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Panama City Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, i ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (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 northern p ...

and the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...

. 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 A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a m ...

and Portugal's biggest bank,

Caixa Geral de Depósitos Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) () is a Portugal, 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, repres ...

, refused assistance to the group. Long time CEO, Ricardo Salgado 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 that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

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. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdictions that facilitate reduced taxe ...

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

* Banco Espírito Santo Azores * Banco Espírito Santo Angola (BESA) * Bank Espírito Santo International in the

* 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, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

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

Financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

* 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 protect ...

and

Healthcare Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

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 is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by und ...

* 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'' * ES Capital ''

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

'' The bank owns a small part of Banque Marocaine du Commerce Extérieur, a bank in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Espirito Santo Financial Group Defunct banks of Portugal

File for bankruptcy

Operations

See also

References

External links