Retail investors who lost their savings in the bailout of Portugal's Banco Espírito Santo should recover most of their money over the next three years under a new plan, Reuters reported Dec. 19.

The Portuguese authorities stepped in to rescue the bank in 2014, splitting it into a "bad" part and a "good" part, Novo Banco SA.

The plan outlined by the government would see retail customers who bought commercial paper of the now bankrupt holding companies linked to BES' founding family receive €286 million in compensation, of a total of €485 million invested. In exchange, they would have to give up legal claims that have complicated efforts to sell Novo Banco, Reuters reported.