Miguel Joscts Ribeiro Cadilhe, Finance Minister of Portugal, did not consult the foreign bankers last July, before he told them that their minimum capital requirement was raised from $10 to $17 million each - irrespective of assets - and he has refused to see any of them since. Euromoney's correspondent was the first foreigner allowed to ask him, face to face, why he did it.
Speaking slowly, and in awkward English (though it is a language he knows well), Cadilhe said: "The foreign bankers don't like our measure. But I think that to create a new bank in Portugal is an excellent opportunity of business with low risk and high profit. Two-and-a-half billion escudos is not too high when we compare with excellent opportunity of business. This is the first argument.
"The second argument is about innation. Since February 1984 until May 1987 - the banks have one year to increase their capital - from 1.5 million contos to 2.5 million is only in line with inflation." ( A conto is 1,000 escudos, at present about $7.)
These figures were not in keeping with Cadilhe's next remarks, which were about the government's determination to bring inflation down.