Cape Verde terminates Insular Bank licence

Cape Verde has cut its ties with a major offshore financial institution as a result of the Portuguese Bank of Business scandal

The Cape Verdean government has decided to terminate the licence of Insular Bank for its part in a major financial scandal, afriquejet.com reported on Thursday (February 13th).

Finance minister Cristina Duarte revealed that the offshore financial institution is being charged for contributing to a scandal which has caused the nationalisation of the Portuguese Bank of Business.

The €700 million (£625 million) crisis - of which €360 million was connected to Insular Bank's operations in the archipelago - involved the bank hiding transactions and concealing financial figures.

The cancelling of the licence some four months after the scandal erupted was no great surprise, with Carlos Burgo, the governor of the Bank of Cape Verde, expressing his concerns on several occasions over how it reflected on the country's reputation.

Indeed, Insular Bank - which has its headquarters in Cape Verde - was reportedly exposed after the Bank of Cape Verde issued a warning to its Portuguese counterparts.

Cape Verde became the 153rd member of the World Trade Organisation on June 23rd 2008.

This article was brought to you by Sambala Developments: the developer for Cape Verde property

This article has been brought to you be Sambala; the developer for Cape Verde Property.

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