Bank of Portugal, 29 December 2015, Retransfer Emails

• A request was made to the Bank of Portugal for access to its administrative file and supporting documentation in relation to the Retransfer Decision.  No response was received, so a summons was filed with the Administrative Court of Lisbon seeking an order that the Bank of Portugal disclose its file and supporting documentation. Following this filing, the Court ordered the Bank of Portugal to deliver the complete administrative file, which resulted in the delivery of several volumes of documents, which it has stated comprise the administrative file and supporting documentation for the Retransfer Decision.
• Under Portuguese law the administrative file and supporting documentation for the Retransfer Decision is public and may be accessed by parties with a legitimate interest in the relevant administrative procedure.
• The documentation delivered by Bank of Portugal in response to the summons was:
  • (a) public documentation pertaining to the 5 series of notes retransferred (i.e., prospectuses and final terms) as well as general publicly available accounting documents relating to Novo Banco, none of which specifically relates to or refers to the Retransfer Decision; and
  • (b) an email exchange between Bank of Portugal and Novo Banco which does relate to the Retransfer Decision. 

The email exchange can be seen here.  With respect to this exchange (i) it commences with an email from Bank of Portugal dated 29 December 2015 and timed at 19:50 and the response from Novo Banco is dated 29 December 2015 and timed at 21:34, the time of the latter  being later than the disclosure of the Retransfer Decision by the Bank of Portugal and subsequent wide reporting of this in the Portuguese media on 29 December 2015, and (ii) it is the only information that has been disclosed by Bank of Portugal in relation to the decision making process that led to the Retransfer Decision.