The regulator said the sanctions were necessary to protect the interests of depositors and other clients of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) bank, with which ESBD is registered.
It comes after Banque Privee Espirito Santo (BPES) failed to honour its contractual commitments with the financial services provider, placing its solvency at risk.
BPES, a fellow member of the ES Group based in Switzerland, also failed to repay deposits it owed to the company “in the normal course of business”.
ESBD has also been ordered to maintain and preserve its assets.
The DFSA said recent financial difficulties within the ES Group have led it to previously take a “series of regulatory actions” against ESBD.
These actions have included restricting it from transferring any assets to other ES Group companies, and requiring it to have a manager operating in the place of its board of directors.
The regulator has also suspended the status of the bank’s director, Ricardo Espirito Santo Silva Salgado, claiming he is “no longer [a] fit and proper person” for the role.
ESBD is part of Espírito Santo Financial Group, an integrated financial services group whose banking and insurance operations are located primarily in Portugal.
As a DIFC bank, it is not permitted to deal with retail clients or accept deposits from United Arab Emirate clients.
In February, the DIFC announced that it had seen the number of companies registered with it jump 14% on the previous year, with the inclusion of 55 financial firms.
