Coppola Comment

Another in the Bulgarian banking series at Forbes. Two months on, CorpBank is still closed and there is no end in sight. Depositors are angry, bondholders are nervous after the bank's recent default, and the Bulgarian authorities are making increasingly desperate attempts to find the money to reimburse depositors and - perhaps - recapitalize the bank so it can be reopened. Meanwhile, Tsvetan Vassilev, the bank's majority owner, is in hiding after an international arrest warrant for him was issued on charges of embezzlement. And Delyan Peevski's power base becomes ever larger.... Read the article here . Depositors protesting about CorpBank's closure. Picture credit: Novinite

From Forbes: The US oil company Cobalt International Energy Inc. has been issued with a Wells Notice by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in relation to its operations in Angola. The Wells Notice formally warns Cobalt that it may face enforcement action for breaches of “certain federal securities laws”: In connection with such investigation, on the evening of August 4, 2014, the Company received a “Wells Notice” from the Staff of the SEC stating that the Staff has made a preliminary determination to recommend that the SEC institute an enforcement action against the Company, alleging violations of certain federal securities laws. In connection with the contemplated action, the Staff may recommend that the SEC seek remedies that could include an injunction, a cease-and-desist order, disgorgement, pre-judgment interest and civil money penalties. The Wells Notice is neither a formal allegation nor a finding of wrongdoing. It allows the Company the opportunity to provide its r...

If you thought what I described in my recent pieces on Bulgaria was corruption, just read this .....it makes Bulgaria look like the Garden of Eden. Honestly, I was shocked. What was supposed to be a post about the failure of the Angolan arm of BES turned into a post about the systematic looting of Angola by its corrupt political elite. And I've only scratched the surface, really. Horrifying. I am grateful to Nicholas Shaxson for pointing me in the direction of this piece of analysis. Related reading The BES story so far: Banco Espirito Santo: a Portuguese disaster, not a European crisis How to rip off a bank, Espirito Santo style How to rip off a country, Espirito Santo style Plus, for comparison purposes, the Bulgaria sequence: What on earth is going on in Bulgaria? The curious case of the Bulgarian bank runs The Bulgarian Game of Thrones The EU should beware of Russian interest in Balkan banks Oh, and if' you'd like some more Angolan and Portuguese horr...