The Association of Indignant and Cheated of Commercial Paper (AIEPC) says that investors were tricked into putting their money into what they thought were low-risk investments, but which turned out to be short-dated debt issued by companies that soon afterwards were forced to seek court protection from their creditors.


In a statement, AIEPC said that the protest marks "a second round of protests ... against the deplorable behaviour that Novo Banco has shown towards its clients relative to compensation for their savings invested in commercial paper."


The group says that the intention to pay out was stated in official documents when, at the time that Novo Banco was created by the Bank of Portugal as the 'good bank' to succeed BES, it was stated that "commercial paper issued by [Espírito Santo group companies] ESI and Rio Forte carry over to Novo Banco, which maintains the intention of assuring the return, on maturity, of the capital invested by its non-institutional clients [who had invested] in the branch network of the then BES Group". The way Novo Banco has dealt wit the case is "unacceptable", the group says.


Novo Banco has even taken legal action against former clients, the group noted, describing its intentions in doing this as "merely intimidatory".


A lawyer for AIEPC recently sought a preventive injunction against the Bank of Portugal and the banking sector resolution fund that owns Novo Banco, in which the association demands that the central bank inform any entity that might buy the new bank of the amount of commercial paper owed to the some 2,500 subscribers - some €350 million - in other words, that it include the amount as an item in the bank's accounts.


BES was taken over and wound up by the Bank of Portugal in August of last year after it announced huge first-half losses. A 'good bank', Novo Banco, was created and taken over by the sector resolution fund, with the help of a huge state loan that can only be repaid in full if Novo Banco is sold at a good price.


In September this year, the period set for talks with prospective buyers on ended with no deal agreed. A new process is expected to start in the coming months.