On instructions from Portugal’s central bank a new board and chief executive have been installed at Banco Espirito Santo.<br /><br />Vitor Bento, a respected economist, is the bank’s new chief executive. <br /><br />The move comes amid fears that the lenders links to the financially troubled Espirito Santo family empire had unsettled international markets.<br /><br />An audit of the family-owned holding companies behind Banco Espirito Santo found financial irregularities that raised the prospect of potentially destabilising losses at the country’s largest listed bank.<br /><br />The news last week sent Portugal’s debt and stock markets into turmoil that spread to Europe as well as other firms in the Espirito Santo family orbit.<br /><br />The new board replace Espirito Santo family members including patriarch, Ricardo Espirito Santo Salgado, who had already agreed to resign along with other board members loyal to the family.
