They have left ‘for dead’ thousands of clients of BPA

AREB never worked to preserve the interests of the clients of BPA. Neither veiled by the stability and the value of the entity, as it has made the public believe.

In the case of the unjustified blocking of thousands of accounts in Banca Privada d’Andorra (BPA), the State Agency for Resolution of Banking Institutions (AREB), never worked to preserve the interests of the clients of BPA. Neither veiled by the stability and the value of the entity, as it has made the public from Spain and all over the world believe.

Never was the situation of eligible clients normalized within the ‘frame’ of financial stability that would allow them to run the Plan of Resolution of the BPA correctly and effectively, but to the contrary cleverly proceeded with the sale of the bank through an auction.

Based on the report presented by the firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), led by experts Key Capital Partners and Jones Lang LaSalle, after 12 months of work, the AREB recognizes that some 27 thousand clients, that is to say the 92.6% of the total, are already in a position to transfer over to Vall Banc, the new banking entity.

The supposed rigorous review process of each client carried out by PwC, which analysed 15 million transactions and more than 60 thousand documents submitted by clients to justify the legitimacy of their accounts, has only been a farce.

Despite the fact that one thousand 242 clients were declared “suitable”, if they provide the necessary documentation to support the legitimacy of their accounts and transactions, it is certain that the Board of Directors of the AREB (headed by the president Albert Hinojosa Besolí), has not been coherent with its own failures. AREB has only dedicated to propagating a double discourse. Probably to save time in the imminent and “fraudulent” sale of BPA.

Meanwhile, the Board of Directors of AREB, who assumed the guardianship of BPA from the 17 of July of 2015, has not respected the international standards on privacy and the protection of savings of their clients during the whole process.

For this case, AREB appointed a new administrator only for BPA, the economist Fernando Vázquez de Lapuerta, after having fired David Betbesé and César Goyache, the latter linked to BBVA. Betbesé was for many years the director of the International Private Banking of the Financial Group Credit Andorra, which would have created suspicions about his participation in the privatization of BPA. Betbesé, who administered the resources of BPA during the last months, has contemplated as possible solutions the transfer of assets or liabilities, or any rights and obligations, to a ‘bridge entity’, in this case Vall Banc, without respecting the principles of efficiency, effectiveness and prudence. As well as the total or partial sale of the bank as predicted in the so-called, ‘Law 8/2015’. This has generated a great unconformity amongst the affected clients.

What is certain is that the new bank to which the licit assets and liabilities of BPA are being transferred (Vall Banc) has been “immunized”, but not their clients, since the entity inherited the risks associated with deficiencies in assets and liabilities.