Latest news and stories about banking crisis in Portugal for expats and residents.
He positioned himself as Ricardo Salgado's successor, but ended up at the root of a family conflict that culminated in the collapse of the Espírito Santo group. He wanted to restore the family name. He died at the age of 71.
José Maria Ricciardi, who died this Wednesday at the age of 71, was the man who confronted Ricardo Salgado, the “Owner of Everything”, during the most tense and existential moments within one of the most (if not the most) powerful families in the country, which culminated in the tragic fall of the GES/BES group over a decade ago. In the end...
Observador's lead editor, Luís Rosa, recalls the bitterness between Ricardo Salgado and José Maria Ricciardi, who always believed he could have saved BES if he had replaced his cousin.
José Maria Ricciardi, former administrator of Banco Espírito Santo, passed away this Wednesday, March 25, as confirmed by DN. With a degree in Applied Economic Sciences from the Catholic University of Louvain, Ricciardi built almost his entire career in banking, with international experience marked by several prominent roles. He was president of the Executive Committee of Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento (BESI) from July 2003 and vice-chairman of the board of directors of the same group, having also presided over BES Investimento in Brazil. A cousin of Ricardo Salgado, he challenged the leadership of BES and denounced irregularities in the group's management. At the beginning of the proceedings linked to the collapse of Banco Espírito Santo in 2014, José Maria Ricciardi was the subject of an investigation, though he was never formally named a suspect. The banker ended up playing a decisive role as a witness for the Public Prosecutor's Office. After the group's collapse, Ricciardi cut ties with his cousin Ricardo Salgado. Unlike other members of the Espírito Santo family, he was the only one to retain his status of suitability with the Bank of Portugal, which was never revoked. His involvement in the case and the position he took before the authorities marked him as a central figure in the judicial and administrative developments that followed the BES crisis, distinguishing him from other family members implicated in the investigations. After Banco Espírito Santo collapsed, José Maria Ricciardi committed himself to preserving his symbolic capital and led the sale of Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento (BESI) to the Chinese group Haitong in 2015. He remained in the executive leadership of the entity until the end of 2016. In 2021, in an interview with the newspaper Público, he lamented the fate of the institution that defined Portuguese banking and revealed plans to create a new digital bank with the goal of reputational reconstruction. Ricciardi also served on bodies such as the board of directors of Espírito Santo Financial Group and the general and supervisory board of EDP. Early in his career, he worked at Banco Inter-Atlântico in Rio de Janeiro (1979–1981) and performed financial control functions at the European headquarters of the Espírito Santo Group. Later, he held management positions at Bank Espírito Santo International and BIC, before joining investment banking in 1992 as an administrator of ESSI, assuming the vice-presidency of BESI three years later. In 2018, having already been a member of the supervisory board of Sporting, he was also a candidate for the club's presidency, but was defeated at the polls by Frederico Varandas, the current president of the lions. It was also that year that José Maria Ricciardi joined Optimal Investment, a financial boutique founded by Jorge Tomé, former president of Banif, reinforcing his presence in the sector after leaving the executive leadership of BESI. Ricciardi maintained that BES was solid and blamed the Bank of Portugal for its resolution.
