In the wake of the Caritas fraud, the parliamentary finance committee debated the role of the Banque et Caisse d'Épargne de l'État, known locally as Spuerkeess, with the future of bank CEO Françoise Thoma unclear.
Questions remain as to why, over the course of years, no action was taken at the Spuerkeess to address shortcomings in internal procedures despite warnings from the Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (CSSF), and whether this contributed to enabling the Caritas fraud. These issues were at the heart of Monday's meeting of the parliamentary finance committee.
Because the session was held behind closed doors, the answers provided were vague. Still, some MPs spoke afterwards. MP Marc Goergen of the Pirate Party (Piratepartei) said he felt somewhat reassured. He explained that from what was said he was satisfied that Spuerkeess had taken the appropriate steps when required, although he believed certain IT systems still needed further review. While he did not wish to reveal details of the closed session, he repeated that the bank had not made major mistakes.
The meeting had been prompted by a request from The Greens (déi gréng), who wanted clarification. Their spokesperson, Sam Tanson, delivered a mixed assessment. She pointed out that although some weaknesses at Spuerkeess had been corrected over time, they had not all been fully resolved. In her view, the Caritas case would not have reached the scale it did if the bank's internal functioning had been as robust as it should have been.
Finance Minister Gilles Roth rejected that interpretation. He said he regretted that an injunction issued by the CSSF in 2020 had not been implemented until 2024 or 2025, but he stressed that this had no direct link to Spuerkeess's responsibility in the Caritas affair, despite attempts to connect the two. He explained that the CSSF had merely found the bank's risk assessment system to be non-compliant with anti-money laundering rules, and it remained unclear whether even a flawless system at Spuerkeess would have prevented the Caritas fraud.
When asked about possible personal consequences, Roth said that the dismissal of CEO Françoise Thoma was not a taboo subject for him, but he would not dictate such a decision from above. As to when the competent bodies at Spuerkeess would take a decision on her future, he could not or would not give a timeframe.
