ANGOLA | Central bank has eye on problems at BESA

The credit portfolio of Banco Espírito Santo Angola (BESA) has problems and requires the bank to increase its capital, the governor of the Angola National Bank said last week in Luanda.
“A problem has been identified in the credit portfolio of Banco Espírito Santo [Angola] and includes irregularities and defaulted loans,” said José de Lima Massano in the Angolan parliament.
The governor said that the central bank was concluding an assessment of the situation at the bank, but said that immediate requirements included “a capital increase by the bank” along with other “recommendations” from the Angolan regulator to “mitigate the irregularities that were detected,” at BESA.
Despite saying that further information would be given at a later stage of the investigation, Lima Massano said that, based on information so far BESA did not pose a risk to the Angolan financial system.
“This does not affect the guarantees on deposits at BESA or the responsibilities the bank had to third parties and it certainly does not affect the stability of our financial system,” said Lima Massano told members of parliament.
Portuguese weekly newspaper Expresso reported that Banco Espírito Santo Angola (BESA) received a sovereign guarantee based on a presidential dispatch in which the “Finance minister is authorized to issue an autonomous guarantee in the value of USD5.7 billion to BESA, which takes on the responsibility of proper and complete compliance of executed credit transactions.” MDT/Macauhub