Banco Português de Negócios (English: Portuguese Bank of Business), or simply BPN, is a Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 banking institution. It used to be a private bank, but was nationalized

Nationalization

Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...

 by the Portuguese Government in 2008 after a bad management and malpractice-related debt of 1.800 billion euros and several irregularities uncovered in the institution.

Scandal

Portugal's Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos

Fernando Teixeira dos Santos

Fernando Teixeira dos Santos , GOIH is a Portuguese economist and professor. He was Minister of Finance in the Portuguese Government led by José Sócrates .-Career:...

 told a press conference after a special cabinet meeting that the government was to assure deposits in BPN, and that the management of BPN was to be given to the Caixa Geral de Depósitos

Caixa Geral de Depósitos

Caixa Geral de Depósitos is a Portuguese state-owned banking corporation and the largest bank in Portugal.- History :*1876 — Caixa Geral de Depósitos was founded under the aegis of the Junta de Crédito Público....

 (Portugal's public bank) under Bank of Portugal's (Banco de Portugal, the Portuguese Central Bank) supervision from November 3, 2008, to prevent a financial crisis

Financial crisis

The term financial crisis is applied broadly to a variety of situations in which some financial institutions or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these...

 chain reaction in Portugal. Portuguese judicial authorities detained the former president of financially troubled BPN. José Oliveira e Costa, who was the CEO of BPN between 1997 and early 2008, was arrested on charges of suspected tax fraud, money laundering

Money laundering

Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...

, forgery

Forgery

Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...

, abuse of credit and illegal gains. The role of Bank of Portugal in regulating and supervising the Portuguese banking system, when it was led by Vítor Constâncio

Vitor Constâncio

Vítor Manuel Ribeiro Constâncio, GCC, GCIH is a Portuguese economist and politician, Vice-President of the European Central Bank. Constâncio graduated in economics from the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa....

from 2000 to 2010, was the subject of heated argument and generated controversy.