Amid the gloom of a deep recession, and after a year of record losses for his bank, Nuno Amado, chief executive of Millennium BCP – Portugal’s second largest lender by assets – has found a reason for cautious optimism. Almost every day, he says, he meets company managers who want to talk about loans. He is equally encouraged that most of them are also visiting his competitors.
“Today, when we meet a firm with a medium to good risk profile, we usually find there are three or four other banks competing for their business,” he says. “This is an encouraging sign that the demand for credit is gradually returning.”
