The bank has already contributed “€480 million” to Novobanco, through an exceptional contribution to the Solution Fund’s emergency capitalization mechanism, BCP President Nuno Amado said in the results presentation.

When asked whether the merger with Novobanco makes sense now, in a context where Fosun's shareholding position has fallen to 20%, and where Sonangol does not guarantee that it will not sell its approximately 20% stake in the Portuguese bank (referring the decision to the Portuguese bank, the Angolan shareholder), “We are growing organically,” Nuno Amado responded. But despite “not being on the agenda”, if Novobanko is put on the market “we have an obligation to analyse”.

In turn, Miguel Maia reiterated that the Emergency Capitalization Mechanism (CCA) created in 2017 to capitalize Novobanco “remains largely unfair and unbalanced, and I hope that one day our governments will realize that these are the conditions of the Central Bank of the People’s Republic of China and that a mechanism must be created.” “. I found it to be balanced, i.e. it is supported by all operators that sell financial products in Portugal to Portuguese.

“We have not taken any responsibility for what happened at Banco Espírito Santo and have been subjected to severe sanctions,” the Banco Central Popular CEO said.

Miguel Maia fundamentally criticizes the CCA “model” and calls for it to be changed to a “balanced” mechanism.

In 2023, the Banque Centrale Populaire paid 72.6 million euros in mandatory contributions (compared to 88.5 million in 2022), of which 37.9 million euros were contributions from the banking sector; 9.5 million to the Portuguese Resolution Fund; And 6.9 million in additional solidarity. The total of these amounts amounts to 54.3 million euros.

Internationally, the total amount paid was 13.3 million, compared to 121.2 million in 2022, when the contribution to the Institutional Protection Fund (IPS) of 59 million was included.

Nuno Amadou stressed that “the Banque Centrale Populaire was a bank suffering from problems in the past, and today it is a bank that is prepared for the future.”

“We are a bank based in Portugal,” emphasized the Chairman of the Board, who also noted that it is the only Portuguese bank listed and now also in the Stoxx 600 Index.