Greece is one the largest debtors within the Portuguese banking system. The south European country is the so-called “client 112” from the recently published Banco de Portugal Largest Debtors’ list, and had driven BCP and BPI banks to report losses of €766 million, after one of the biggest debt write-offs in history granted in the aftermath of the country’s second financial bailout in 2012.
Last 16thJuly, the Bank of Portugal published the list of the major debtors to the Portuguese banks, which have asked for State support to solve their financial problems. The Central Bank did not reveal names, but it did, however, reveal numbers and the losses they provoked. Nonetheless, it was possible to reveal some identities by crossing the available data.
That was the case of the “client 112”, which was ironically the cause for BPI and BCP requesting state assistance of €1.5 billion and €3 billion, respectively.
According to the information released, client 112 caused a loss of €408 million to BPI, corresponding to 80% of the bank’s total losses. The Bank of Portugal revealed that BPI’s exposure to 112 was initially even higher (€ 480 million). But BPI was not the only one as BCP lost €358 million with Greece’s public debt, corresponding to 30% of the bank’s total losses at the time.
Original Story:Eco
Photo: Banco de Portugal
Edition: Prime Yield