“All banks had to reduce the number of workers,” says Carlos Costa – TVI24

The Governor of the Bank of Portugal pointed today to the problem of “oversizing” of banks face the current reality of the sector, stressing that the banks had to reduce its capacity in the domestic market in recent years.

“Portuguese banks generally have a oversizing problem against the deal available. they have an additional difficulty resulting from the contraction of bank product, and there is the impact of technological innovation” , said Carlos Costa.

the official was speaking at the Working Committee and Social Security, the purpose of the current staffing cut in Novo Banco, considering that this “is a common outlook for European banks “

and said: ” the faster reduction in Portugal than in other European countries is because we have more branches and workers inhabitant “ in the banking system.

” in the case of the New Bank, I would say whether it was a bridge bank or not, this rationalization would have to happen, “she launched Carlos Costa, considering that this is even more striking because it is “a bridge bank and subject to the scrutiny of state aid”.

the governor stressed that “all banks had to make a reduction in number of effective and agencies “over the past few years, and that” also had to restore the efficiency ratio ( ‘cost-to-income’) to allow the return to profitability, because this is essential to ensure the safety of deposits and financing for the economy. “

in the face of questions from MPs on alleged irregularities in the effective reduction process of Novo Banco, Carlos Costa returned to stress that the supervisor” monitors compliance [of agreed targets between the Portuguese State and Brussels], but is not entitled to the fulfillment “of the same, which is a task for the management team led by Eduardo Stock da Cunha.

Still, it was shown convinced that” the Council Management will have taken care to check what was the best way to implement the commitment in question, “that is, the reduction of 1,000 employees by the end of the year.

He said that the process should be according to “compliance with the law, compliance with the bank’s own interests and compliance with the public interest.”

the New Bank said today that the terminations by mutual agreement are almost concluded and that the collective dismissal workers of the institution in Portugal should be “clearly below 100″ effective.

in a note of clarification, the New Bank said that the termination phase by mutual agreement is “almost done” and that now the group “will take the decisions on the next phase of the restructuring process.”

Whereas the “starting point [was] an obligation to reduce 1,000 jobs between November 30, 2015 and December 31 2016 “, the institution led by Stock da Cunha said he believed that” the path thus far transgressed allow a collective dismissal in Portugal, is clearly below 100 workers. “