Portugal’s Bison Bank became the first authorized bank to get a crypto license from Portugal’s central bank.

Banco de Portugal, the country’s central bank, shared the announcement regarding the new move, revealing that Bison Bank will develop a new division for dealing with the crypto industry. This new, special business division will be known as the Bison Digital Assets.

Its purpose will be to operate as a virtual asset exchange. This will also make it the first entity in Portugal to be owned by an official bank, authorized by a central bank, and a division dealing with cryptocurrencies, offering custody and trading services.

On top of that, Bison Bank is also an institution that offers services such as wealth management, depositary and investment banking — available for individual and institutional clients alike — and more. The bank is actually owned by a Chinese private capital group based in Hong Kong.

Portugal’s central bank’s decision to grant the licenses to Bison Bank is not that surprising given that there were past activities and signals pointing toward Portugal warming up to crypto. For example, back in March of this year, the central bank granted the first full all-categories VASP license to a Portugal-based on-chain crypto payments firm, Ultrust. This was a piece of big news at the time.

Before that, in June 2021, Banco de Portugal also granted trading licenses to two digital currency exchanges — Mind The Coin and Criptoloja. The licenses allowed the platform to operate as VASPs. Finally, the central bank also granted an additional license to another platform called Luso Digital Asset.

All of this signaled that Portugal is slowly getting more and more comfortable with the idea of the crypto industry, and now that its first financial institution became a licensed crypto trading/custody service, it is only a matter of time before institutional investors of Portugal rush to enter the crypto industry through the bank. This will, in turn, attract other banks, and more crypto and retail investors, continuing to push adoption in Portugal.

Original Story: Securities.o | Ali Raza 
Photo:Photo by Lotus Head on FreeImages
Edition: Prime Yield

Almost two-thirds of people with mortgages in Portugal will only finish paying for their house after they reach the age of 70.

“Given the aging of the Portuguese population and the significant reduction in the income of borrowers in the transition from working life to a retirement situation, despite the reduction in expenses that may occur, the high concentration of loans in borrowers over 70 years of age in the term of the loan could pose a risk to the financial system,” says the BdP in the report.

According to the regulator, at the end of 2021, “almost two-thirds of the housing loan stock was associated with borrowers whose age at the end of the loan will be over 70 years and around a quarter was associated with borrowers whose age will be over 75 years”.

“Most of these borrowers took out their loans between 27 and 40 years of age”, the document also reads.

For the BdP, the granting of loans with very long maturities means that, very often, “the term of the loans exceeds the active life of the borrowers”.

Original Story: The Portugal News |TPN 
Photo: Big Stock Photo
Edition: Prime Yield

The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio within the Portuguese banking sector decreased to 3.6% at the end of 2021, 0.4 percentage points less than in September and 1.3 percentage points below 2020, the BdP said.

According to the latest report from the Bank of Portugal (BdP) on the Portuguese banking system for the fourth quarter of 2021, the gross NPL ratio decreased 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter to 3.6 percent, reflecting the decrease in NPLs and the increase in productive loans, with contributions of -0.3 percentage points and -0.1 percentage points, respectively. The NPL ratio net of impairments stood at 1.7% (1.8% in September 2021).

Data released by the BdP indicate that the gross value of NPL owned by Portuguese banks fell by €1.012 billion between September and December 2021, standing at €12.032 billion at the end of last year. In year-on-year terms, the decrease in the value of NPL was €2.384 billion.

Net of impairments, NPL totalled €5.747 billion at the end of 2021, down from €5.775 billion in September and €6.494 billion year-on-year. According to the BdP, the gross NPL ratios of companies (non-financial corporations – NFCs) and individuals stood at 8.1% (-0.3 percentage points) and 2.8% (-0.2 percentage points), respectively, with their variation “reflecting, in particular, the reduction in NPLs”.

The NPL coverage ratio by impairments decreased 3.5 percentage points in relation to the previous quarter, to 52.2%, reflecting “the decrease in accumulated impairments, partially offset by the reduction in NPLs”.

In companies there was a decrease of 3.8 percentage points, to 52.9%, while in individuals the coverage ratio fell to 50.9%, with an increase of 0.3 percentage points in consumption and other purposes, to 64.8%, and a decrease of 1.5 percentage points in the housing segment, to 32.6%.

Original story: ECO| Lusa 
Photo: Photo by Svilen Milev on FreeImages
Translation and Edition: Prime Yield

Even though the fact that Portuguese banks have shown “resilience” throughout the pandemic, in general, “it may take some time” before some credits that were under moratorium may go into default, warns DBRS.

According to the rating agency says, it is necessary to keep an eye on “post-Covid” impacts and monitor risks associated with rising interest rates, rising energy costs on businesses, difficulties in supply chains and developments in the conflict in Ukraine.

In a recent report, DBRS Morningstar points out that “even despite the pandemic, the stock of non-performing loans (NPL) continued to fall, thanks to continued sales of old problematic assets”. The (aggregate) NPL ratio in Portuguese banking fell, on average, to 4.7% at the end of 2021, down from 5.9% the previous year and below the important psychological threshold of 5%.

“At the same time, the end of most moratoria (in September 2021) has not resulted in a sharp increase in new non-performing loans,” says DBRS, stressing that this is an analysis that is valid “at least at this time”. DBRS’s caution is justified by the fact that there has been “an increase in the percentage of loans that are classified as Stage 2″ and were previously under moratorium.

At issue is the qualification that banks have to make, under the accounting rules in force, on each loan they grant and on the risk that each of these loans will suffer a default.

DBRS also notes that there has been an average increase of eight percentage points in the proportion of loans classified as stage 2, which justifies an “expectation of a moderate deterioration in asset quality in the medium term”. In other words, DBRS argues that the soundness of some of these loans could be in question, especially if economic conditions are not the most favourable.

There are some sectors, such as hotels and part of the manufacturing industry, that have not yet fully recovered,” DBRS says.

Original story: Observador | Edgar Caetano 
Photo: Photo by Ricardo Gurgel on FreeImages
Translation and Edition: Prime Yield

The Portuguese bank reports its first annual profit ever, a total of €184.5 million.

After accumulated losses of €8.4 billion since the resolution of former BES bank in August 2014, Portugal’s Novobanco finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel by achieving an unprecedented profit of €184.5 million last year.

This positive result compares with losses of €1,329 million in 2020, but does not, however, prevent a new request to the Resolution Fund for €209.2 million.

On the possibility of a new capital injection, the Resolution Fund and also the finance minister, João Leão, had already responded negatively to the bank even though the request had not been publicly announced, so a new dispute between the two parties is expected. And this surges at a time when the contingent capital mechanism ceiling of 3.89 billion, valid until 2026, is about to run out – with this request, another 200 million remain, and there are disputes in the arbitration court in the amount of €170 million.

A year of profits was already forecast for the financial institution, according to the signs that were being given by António Ramalho throughout last year, and which were confirmed quarter after quarter.

The bank justifies the first positive results in its eight-year history with the improvement in the bank’s operating results (with a contribution of €377.7 million), a lower level of impairments and provisions (down 70.4% to 352 million) and and by the recording in 2020 of the 300.2 million loss on the revaluation of restructuring funds.

Original Story: Eco News | News
Photo: Novo Banco Website
Edition: Prime Yield

Portugal’s BCP bank has completed the sale of the nonperforming loans (NPL) portfolio named “Project Lucia”, made up of bad loans with a nominal value of 60 million and real estate assets worth 50 million euros. According to Jornal Económico, the buyer was LX Partners (in partnership with Cabot).

BCP will continue its efforts to clean up its balance sheet. “We will continue to go to the market and carry out operations”, said Miguel Maya when asked if they were going to sell NPL portfolios once again.

The bank recorded a 543 million euro reduction in Non-Performing Exposure (NPE) by 2021, with a 485 million euro reduction in domestic activity. This reduction in NPE, gives “continuity to the successful strategy of disinvestment in NPE implemented by the Bank in recent years”, says the institution.

The group’s NPE ratio for loans and advances to customers stands at 4.7%. In the results presentation, the bank revealed that by 2021 the NPE ratio as a percentage of the total loan portfolio continued to evolve favourably, having decreased from 5.9% at the end of 2020, to 4.7% at 31 December 2021, highlighting the contribution of domestic credit, whose NPE ratio fell from 6.1% to 4.7% in the same period.  Also with regard to coverage indicators there was a general improvement in the last year (to 68%), highlighting the performance of the activity in Portugal, whose degree of NPE coverage by impairments, increased from 63% at the end of the previous year, to 68.5% at 31 December 2021.

Regarding the net portfolio of properties received through recovery, it decreased 32.8% between December 2020 and December 2021.

The value of the portfolio, calculated by independent valuers, is 32% above its book value, the bank said.

BCP sold 1,677 properties in 2021 (2,414 properties in 2020), with the sale value exceeding the book value by 22 million euros.

The bank posted annual profits of 138.1 million, down 24.6% on the previous year. BCP’s return on equity remained very low and far from the management’s target. In 2021 it did not exceed 2.4%, well below the cost of capital.

Original Story: Jornal Económico| Maria Alves 
Photo: Millennium bcp website
Translation & Edition: Prime Yield

New consumer credit operations increased by 11.5% in 2021 compared to the values recorded in 2020. According to data released the Bank of Portugal (BdP), new credit granted last year reached €6.5 billion, which compares with €5.8 billion financed the previous year. 

Despite the recovery, the amounts are still 13.6% below the operations carried out in 2019, before the pandemic, when the amount reached €7.6 billion, a record breaking year.

As for December’s figures, these reveal a drop of 6.4% compared to the previous month, in which the €600 million threshold had been exceeded for the first time since February 2020. In the last month of the year, 591.3 million euros were granted to consumers. The amount represents an increase of 24% compared to the same month in the previous year. 

Personal credit represents the biggest slice of the cake. 269.6 million euros were lent for this purpose, equivalent to 45.5% of the total.

This portion includes credit for education, health, renewable energy and equipment leasing, which totalled €10.3 million, up 47.1% on December 2020, and down 19.1% compared to November. 

It also includes other personal loans (no specific purpose, home, consolidated and other purposes), which totalled €259.3 million, equivalent to a year-on-year increase of 45% and a monthly drop of 9%.

In total, 38,920 new personal loans were granted, down 13% on November. 

New car loans totalled €226 million, equivalent to 15,001 new operations, up 0.7% on November. 

In turn, credit cards, credit lines, bank current accounts and overdraft facilities reached €95 million of financing. 68,415 new operations were signed, down 14.6% on the previous month.

Original Story: Jornal de Negócios | Ana Sanlez
Photo: Photo by Ricardo Gurgel from FreeImages.com
Translation and Edition: Prime Yield

The stock of housing loans totalled €96.9 billion last December, up 1.99% compared to the same month of 2020 and hitting a new maximum since at least 2016, according to Bank of Portugal data.

According to the central Bank latest data, the total amount borrowed on housing loans (€96.9 billion) in December means 1.99% more compared to December 2020 and 0.37% compared to last November.

This is still the highest `stock’ value of home loans since at least December 2016.

Already the ratio of overdue loans on housing was 0.5% in December (the same as November and down from 0.6% in December 2020).

In consumer loans the amount lent in December was €19.2 billion, up 0.23% compared to December 2020 and 0.17% compared to November.

According to the Bank of Portugal, “the pace of growth in consumer loans continues to lag behind the years prior to the pandemic”.

In loans for other purposes were borrowed 8.9 billion euros in the last month of 2021, up 36% from December 2020 and 0.33% more than in November.

Regarding the non-performing loans (NPL), the NPL ratio for Consumer credit and other purposes was 4.5% in December (down from 6.3% in December 2020 and 4.6% in November).

As for companies, 75.7 billion euros in credit were granted in December, in this case up 2.3% year-on-year but down 0.48% on November. In this case, 2.3% of the total amount of loans was in default (down from 3.3% in December 2020).

“This was the lowest value recorded since 2008, extending the downward trend observed since late 2016,” says the Bank of Portugal, adding that the reduction in the NPL ratio is more significant for companies in the construction and real estate activities sectors (it went from 10.3% and 4.8%, respectively, in December 2020, to 7.5% and 2.4% in December 2021).

As for deposits, last December, individuals had deposited €172.9 billion, up 6.8% compared to December 2020. Household deposits are at their highest since at least December 2016.

The central bank highlights demand deposits, as, “at the end of 2021, they represented 48% of the total deposits of private individuals”.

The amount of corporate deposits in banks in Portugal, meanwhile, grew by 17.0% compared to 2020, to €61.8 billion.

“It is necessary to go back to the end of 2010 to find growth rates similar to those seen in the two years of the pandemic,” says the Bank of Portugal.

Original Story: RTP| LUSA 
Photo: Photo by Svilen Milev in FreeImages
Translation & Edition: Prime Yield

The deal was closed with LX Investment Partners III, BTL Ireland Acquisitions II Designated Activity Company and BTLP Acquisitions.

Montepio bank announced on 31 December the sale of a non-performing loans (NPL) portfolio valued at 253 million euros, including 10,318 on-balance-sheet and off-balance-sheet contracts.

The deal was made “after a competitive sale process”, through the signing of «a public deed of sale of a portfolio of non-performing loans, in the form of direct sale to the entities LX Investments Partners III, BTL Ireland Acquisitions II Designated Activity Company and BTLP Acquisitions I Unipessoal, Lda, companies validly incorporated and governed by Portuguese law and headquartered in Portugal”, can be read in the note sent by the bank to the CMVM.

According to Montepio, “after the total derecognition of the credits, the estimated impact of this sale on Banco Montepio’s results will be immaterial, representing, however, an important reduction in non-productive exposures, contributing to a decrease of 1 percentage point in the NPE ratio”.

For now, the transaction “contributed to an increase of 3 base points in Banco Montepio’s Total Capital ratio, consolidating the strategy launched by the Board of Directors of continuous reduction of non-productive assets and reinforcement of capital ratios”, it can also be read.

Original Story: Iberian Property | Ana Tavares
Photo: Banco Montepio
Edition: Prime Yield

The Deva fund has paid €52.3 million to Novobanco for its Harvey Project, a non-performing loans (NPL) portfolio with a gross value of €164 million.

This was one of the main NPL portfolios still owned by the Portuguese bank by the end of 2021, which had been previously put in the market with an initial gross book value close to €640 million.

However, in the final stretch of the year the Portuguese bank decided to recast the portfolio composition, excluding some of the initial credits. 

The transaction was agreed with the Deva fund for €52.3 million – less than a third of the gross book value of the portfolio, which was €164.4 million.

In the statement sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (CMVM), the financial institution writes that the sale “should have a marginal impact on Novo Banco’s capital position and income statement for 2021”.

Novo Banco assures that the sale contract “represents a reduction of €162.6 million in its stock of NPL.

Negócios understands that with this  operation the bank should reduce its NPL ratio to 5%.

Original Story: Jornal de Negócios | Hugo Neutel
Photo: Novo Banco website
Translation & Edition: Prime Yield

Portugal’s Novobanco completed the sale of the Project Orion, comprising non-performing loans (NPL) and related exposures, to a consortium of funds managed by British company West Invest and Luxembourg-based LX Partners (LXP). 

In a statement sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (CMVM), the financial institution led by António Ramalho said that this portfolio, which in September 2021 had an outstanding balance of €231.3 million, was sold for a total amount of €64.7 million. That is, with a 70% discount in relation to the gross value.

The Portuguese bank stresses that the completion of this transaction “is expected to have a marginal positive impact on Novobanco’s capital position and in 2021 income statement.”

“Together these agreements represent a €168.1 million reduction of non-performing loans (“NPL”) and are an important milestone for Novobanco, allowing the Bank to pursue its strategy of converging towards EU average,” stresses the bank controlled by the American Lone Star, which this Thursday received 112 million from the Resolution Fund.

Original Story: eCO News | Luís Alexandre
Photo: Novo Banco
Edition: Prime Yield

The impact of the withdrawal of advanced measures due to the pandemic is not certain, but it should lead to an increase in non-performing loans. The deterioration will depend on the economic recovery of countries, says DBRS.

Portuguese banks managed to reduce non-performing loans (NPLs) during the pandemic, and this, along with the provisions made, improved the banks’ coverage ratio, according to rating agency DBRS. Still, it is necessary to wait and see the effects of the reversal of the support measures. In addition, DBRS also notes that Portugal still has several moratoria pending and the effect on credit is still uncertain.

According to the data from EBA, the NPLs of Portuguese banks “declined significantly between Q4 2019 and Q2 2021 (-42%), also leading to an improvement in the NPL ratio to 4.2% at the end of Q2 2021 from 6.5% at the end of Q4 2019″, DBRS signals in a commentary where it analysed the situation in Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus.

In addition, Portuguese banks have also increased provisions since the end of Q4 2019, which, together with the reduction in NPL, “resulted in the banks’ coverage ratio improving to 58.4% at the end of the second quarter of 2021 from 50.1% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019”, they add.

The rating agency also notes that while Spain, Ireland, Greece and Cyprus “evenly distributed NPLs between households and non-financial companies”, in the remaining NPLs in Italy and Portugal non-financial companies have more weight. This suggests a pipeline skewed towards small and medium-sized enterprises and corporate loans, rather than individual borrowers, in Italy and Portugal.

Already looking at moratoria granted, EBA-covered banks in Portugal had 73% still outstanding at the end of Q2 2021, followed by EBA banks in Italy (23% of total moratoria granted) and Spain (13% of total moratoria granted) at the end of Q2 2021.

To do this analysis, DBRS also looked at the evolution of key metrics, forecasting that unemployment in Portugal will have a slight drop in 2022. Growth in the Portuguese economy will also be higher next year, unlike the other countries analysed. In terms of property prices, Portugal is well above the other countries, having shown a very sharp upward trend

DBRS thus concludes that the “comprehensive response from European governments and the EC has so far been effective in preventing an increase in NPLs” in these jurisdictions in the short term. Unemployment and residential property “have performed better than expected in these jurisdictions, with Portuguese property price increases outperforming other jurisdictions”, they stress.

The agency also notes that the effects of the reversal of the relief measures have yet to be assessed, with NPLs expected to increase, but “deterioration will depend on several factors, including the country’s full economic recovery.

Original Story: ECO | Mariana Espírito Santo 
Photo: Big Stock Photo
Translation & Edition: Prime Yield

Six of the main banks operating in Portugal had a combined €1.043 billion in profit in the first nine months of this year, contrasting with combined losses of €178 million in the same period of 2020.

Contributing to the turnaround was, above all, Novo Banco which went from losses of €853.1 million in the first nine months of 2020 to a profit of €154.1 million in the same period this year.

This year is the first in which the bank – which created in 2014 to carry on the commercial business of Banco Espírito Santo, which that bank was wound up – has had a positive result.

The highest nine-month profit was that of state-owned Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), which reported €429 million, up 9.4%.

BPI, meanwhile, almost tripled its profit to €242 million.

BCP and Santander, by contrast, saw their profits fall. BCP’s fell 59.3% to €59.5 million and Santander’s 32% to €172.2 million.

Banco Montepio, for its part, narrowed its nine-month loss to €14 million from a €57 million loss a year earlier.

Despite the renewed profits for most banks, executives said that profitability in the sector remains very low in relation to the money invested by shareholders.

At CGD’s results presentation, CEO Paulo Macedo said that in recent years the aggregate profitability of banks has been negative and stressed that shareholders’ money has to be remunerated.

“There are those headlines that banking earns I don’t know how much a day, when Caixa has 9.4 billion euros in capital that it has to remunerate,” he said. “It has to return money to taxpayers.”

Macedo announced that CGD would pay in November an extraordinary dividend of €300 million to its sole shareholder, the Portuguese state, in addition to the €83.6 million already paid out this year.

He added that although the CGD results were very positive, the future business conditions it faces are “very difficult”.

Banking consolidation, a recurring issue in recent years, was one of the themes of the results presentations.

BCP’s CEO, Miguel Maya, said it was not looking to make any acquisitions: “Let that be clear.”

BPI’s CEO, João Pedro Oliveira e Costa, also said that the bank he runs took a similar view: “We are not focused there and it is not just talk, it is not our point.”

Novo Banco’s CEO, António Ramalho, by contrast, said that it may weigh up the purchase of smaller banks in good time.

“We will look at all growth hypotheses, especially in the second tier of banks,” he said, stressing that possible acquisitions can be made from the moment the bank concludes its own restructuring process.

In terms of the moratoria on loans, which ended for most at the end of September, the bank CEOs said they were not too worried about defaults, noting that – despite there being problems – the vast majority of customers were paying their debts regularly. But they also said that the situation would evolve depending on economic developments and employment.

In August, the government approved legislation to force banks to restructure oustanding loans to customers who, after the moratoria, have problems paying their debts. CGD has already restructured loans to 3,000 households (totalling €330 million) and 600 companies (with a total €150 million); other banks have not disclosed these figures.

Original Story: Macau Business |Lusa 
Photo: Photo by Armindo Caetano in FreeImages.com
Edition: Prime Yield

Bank Montepio is analysing the transfer of between 1 and 2 billion euro in toxic assets to a specialised vehicle, aiming to perform a «carve-out» operation. And has already placed a new 300 million euros NPL portfolio on the market.

Named “Project Gerês”, this is a granular NPL portfolio, whose sale process is being managed by KPMG. The 300 million euro concern the gross value of the credits, excluding the impairments registered by the bank for this set of contracts and loans.

The bank has one of Portugal’s highest toxic asset rates, having registered in June an NPE (Non-Performing Exposure) ratio of 9.3%, according to the second quarter’s statements. During the same period, the banking system showed an NPL rate of 4.3%, below the 5% rate required by the European authorities.

Original Story: Iberian Property |Ana Tavares 
Photo: Montepio website
Edition: Prime Yield

Millennium bcp bank has put for sale the Project Lucia, a portfolio consisting of 60 million euros in nonperforming loans (NPL) and further 50 million euros in real estate owned (REO) assets. The sales process is being led by KPMG.This isn’t the only portfolio that the Portuguese bank has currently in the market. In August, bcp had already put Project Green up for sale, a 160 million euros portfolio composed of NPLs and REO from the Castro Marim and Monte Rei luxury resorts, both in Algarve.

However, the Castro Marim resort properties would be excluded from the portfolio, due to the low bid values offered by investors. The assets from Monte Rei remain though, but it isn’t certain that the deal will be concluded due to the value of the offers on the table, according to what several sources knowers of the process told to ECO. Bank of America Merrll Lynch and Bybrook are the bidders.

Original Story: ECO News | News 
Photo: Millennium bcp website
Edition: Prime Yield

The Bank of Portugal (BoP) announced that deposits by companies in resident banks increased 16.3% in August compared to the same month in 2020, reaching a new historic high of 58.8 billion euros.

“Concerning deposits by individuals in resident banks, which in July had reached a record €169.9 billion, grew by 7.1% in August, year-on-year, adding 169.3 billion euros (they had increased by 6.6% in the previous month).”

According to the BoP, “since March 2020, households have increased their deposits with banks”, with this growth “a trend and values close to those of the euro area”.

Regarding the total amount of loans granted to households for housing, it grew by 4% year-on-year to 95.6 billion euros, after increasing by 3.9% in the previous month.

Consumer loans grew by 1.3% year-on-year to 19 billion euros in August 2020 (they had increased by 1.6% in the previous month).

Regarding companies, the total amount of loans granted in August 2021 grew by 5.2% year-on-year to 76.2 billion euros, decelerating slightly from the 5.9% increase in the previous month.

“Contrary to the evolution seen in 2020 and early 2021, largely related to the impact of the lines of support for the economy granted in the context of the pandemic, the pace of growth in loans to companies has once again slowed for the fourth consecutive month,” says the central bank.

“Still – it adds – loans to businesses have been increasing at a faster pace than observed in the euro area.”In August, the reduction in the pace of growth of loans to businesses “was across all size classes”

Original Story: Eco  News |  Lusa
Photo: Bank of Portugal website
Edition: Prime Yield

As the Portuguese banks continue to clean up their balance sheets, this has been reflected in an improvement in the levels of non-performing loans (NPL), despite the impact of the pandemic. The NPL ratio stood at 4.3% at the end of June, down 0.6 percentage points from the end of 2020. Still, NPL stock amounted to €13.5 billion.

After peaking in 2016 (17.9%), the NPL ratio have maintained a downward trajectory in recent years; a trend that the Covid-19 pandemic has not yet halted, although the reduction has been at a less intense pace in recent quarters.

Over the past four and a half years domestic banks have cleared more than €30 billion of non-performing loans from their balance sheets and managed to achieve a ratio below the 5% that is required by national authorities. The NPL ratio is today at its lowest level since 2008, according to official statistics.

If we count impairments, the NPL ratio is even lower: 1.9%, representing about €5.99 billion in toxic loans.

Original Story: Eco | Alberto Teixeira 
Photo: Photo by Armindo Caetano in FreeImages.com
Edition & Translation: Prime Yield

Portugal’s Novo Banco (NB) and Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) have two portfolios of non-performing loans (NPLs) for sale, called Harvey and Mercury, respectively. Tenders for the purchase of the respective portfolios are in the final stages and there are several interested parties in the race, and buyers/winners should be chosen on 15 October, 2021. 

According to the newspaper Jornal Económico, which quotes a market source, there are three candidates in the final stage of the tender to buy the NPL Harvey portfolio and four in the final race for Mercury. 

For each of the operations four interested parties have been chosen to move on to the negotiation phase, but in the case of NB one of the candidates, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, will not move forward, the paper said, adding that the three finalists for the Harvey project are the DDM Group, Deva Capital and DK Partners.

At stake are the debts of 20 single names – eight corporate and 12 real estate-related -, with the Project Harvey project encompassing NPL with a gross value of 640 million euros. 

As for the Mercury portfolio, one of the four funds interested in buying is, according to Jornal Económico, the North American Cerberus. This is a granular portfolio and not of large debtors, with CGD’s portfolio being of collateralised (secured) NPL. 

The Mercury portfolio comprises 100 million euros of residential NPL and a small pool of REOs [real estate owned] in the amount of 10 million euros.

Original story: Jornal Económico | Maria Teixeira Alves 
Photo: CGD website
Translation & Edition: Prime Yield

The five main banks based in Portugal recorded, in the first half of the year, an aggregate profit of €708.4 million.

Together, Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), Novo Banco, BCP, BPI and Santander Totta recorded aggregate profits of €708.4 million.

Novo Banco announced profits of €137.7 million in the first six months of the year, an improvement compared to the losses recorded since its foundation, in 2014.

Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) recorded the highest profit among the five largest banks, with €294 million in the first half, after €249 million in the same period last year.

The second largest contribution came from BPI, with €183 million in profit, which compares with the 43 obtained in the first six months of 2020.

In fourth place, after Novo Banco’s profits, which place it in third place in the table of positive net results, was Santander Totta, with a profit of €81.4 million in the first half, compared with €172.9 million in the same period of 2020.

Finally, BCP profited €12.3 million, greatly impacted by losses of €112.7 million in the Polish operation, when it had profited €76 million in the first half of 2020.

Original Story: The Portugal News | TPL/ Lusa 
Photo: CGD website
Edition: Prime Yield