Corporate Governance has been widely discussed throughout the recent years. In Portugal, Banco
Espírito Santo (BES) was recognized for being the only institution with a maximum score regarding its
implementation of Corporate Governance rules. However, the bank collapsed in 2014 after nearly 150
years of existence.
In the first part of this paper, we show that, although in theory BES had perfect corporate governance,
these rules were not truly adopted. Research points to the lack of independent of directors, heavy
influence of the Espírito Santo family, and oversized board as possible causes for its downfall. In the
end, a perfect system failed.
In the second part of this paper we show that the new rules could not have prevented the fall of an
historic Portuguese bank
