Ricardo Salgado

Ricardo Espírito Santo Silva Salgado (born June 25, 1944) is a Portuguese economist and banker. President and founder of Banco Espírito Santo, he was, until July 2014, the banker active for the longest time in Portugal.

Salgado was detained on the 24 July 2014 in an investigation into suspected tax evasion and money laundering. He was later released on bail of €3m after being questioned by a magistrate at Lisbon’s central court of criminal investigation.

Ricardo Salgado was born in Cascais. The great-grandson of José Maria do Espírito Santo Silva and maternal grandson of Ricardo Espírito Santo Silva Ribeiro, Salgado spent the first years of his life in Lisbon. He lived in Lapa, where he studied at a public elementary school and later at Liceu Pedro Nunes.

He has a degree in Economics from the Higher Institute of Economic and Financial Sciences of the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (1969), and did his Military Service in the Portuguese Navy, on the Officer Training Course of the Naval Reserve.

Ricardo Salgado joined the Banco Espírito Santo e Comercial de Lisboa where, in 1972, he headed up the Economic Studies Bureau and subsequently the Credit Board, where he remained until 1975, when the bank was nationalised. From abroad he participated in reconstructing the Espírito Santo Group, first from Brazil (1976-1982) and later from Switzerland (1982-1991). In 1991, after the reprivatisation, he became Executive Chairman of the Banco Espírito Santo (BES) and started on a journey that, among many other aspects, led to an increase in market share from 8% to 20% and to its internationalization (BES is present in 23 countries, on 4 continents).

In 2002, he was appointed to the Supervisory Board of the Euronext NV (Amsterdam) and in 2006 he took part in the merger of Euronext with the (NYSE), as a non-executive member of the Board until 2011. He was non-executive Director of Banco Bradesco (Brazil) from 2003 to 2012.

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