After the global financial crisis and a three-year bail-out programme, the new-look banking sector that emerges in Portugal will have undergone a considerable transformation: fewer branches, fewer staff, fewer non-core operations, a tighter focus on domestic lending and possibly, following potential consolidation, fewer big groups.
“There will be big differences,” says Nuno Amado, chief executive of Millennium BCP, the largest listed lender. “The market for financial products and services has shrunk. Core income is down 40% from just a few years ago. There is less appetite for risk, less demand for credit and a sharp decrease in mortgage lending. This means banks have to adjust.”
