Britain's FCA to fine London unit of failed Banco Espírito Santo for violating listing rules

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is planning to fine the London-based investment banking unit of collapsed Portuguese lender Banco Espírito Santo SA for violating listing rules.

This was reported by The Wall Street Journal citing two people familiar with the matter.

The sources told the newspaper that the penalty on the London arm of Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento (BESI) could be announced as early as 6 January. The fine could amount to several hundred thousand pounds, according to one of the sources.

The FCA on 9 December had suspended the bank's sponsor status, enabling it to help manage equity capital markets offerings for clients.

The London-based unit has offices in Lisbon, São Paulo and London that offer clients equities-trading services in European and Latin American stocks. It also runs a fixed-income and investment-banking advisory business.

In December, Chinese brokerage firm Haitong Securities agreed to buy BESI for €379m ($465m) from Novo Banco, the bank created out of the failed Portuguese lender.

The sale of BESI is conditional on the approval of regulators, including the Bank of Portugal and the European Commission.