Former tax boss to lead EuroBic

Tax wizard José Azevedo Pereira is to replace the former Portuguese finance minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos at the helm of Angolan-Portuguese bank EuroBic.

The new CEO of the bank will have to be approved as “fit and proper” for the post by the national regulator, the Bank of Portugal, but previous signals from the central bank suggest he will get the green light and the backing of shareholders at EuroBic’s next general assembly meeting on the 14 September when Pedro Maia is expected to be voted in as chairman.
Pedro Maia, until now serving as non-executive board member, will replace the current chairman Diogo Barrote.
It also means that the current administrative board will stand down and be replaced, partly because EuroBic is being sold (the process has seen developments in recent weeks) and the new shareholder will want to put its own team in place.
It was decided at the last general board meeting to dispense with elections until the completion of sale.
Also the Bank of Portugal has brought pressure to bear for a change to the current admin board whose last mandate ended in December 2019 because it feared the sale process would drag on too long.
Apart from Teixeira dos Santos, those who are expected to leave the administrative board will be Fernando Teles, Rui Pedras, Pedro Almeida e Silva and Bernardo Espírito Santo.
The CFO Manuel da Luz will remain on, while José Azevedo Pereira, Portugal’s former head tax man who joined EuroBic just over a year ago to run the bank’s credit risk department, among others, will become the new CEO.
On the other hand, sleeping executive board member Duarte Pitta Ferraz will head the bank’s auditing commission, a new body within the board of directors which will replace the Fiscal Board. Susana Ferreira, who has been serving as president until now, will become an executive board member.
For the time being none of the parties involved in the sale process or administrative changes (shareholders, Eurobic or the Bank of Portugal) is commenting on any of the changes.
The bank’s sale process has seen developments in recent weeks after negotiations for the sale of EuroBic to the Spanish bank Abanca fell through at the last minute because of the low price offered — around 0.3% times the bank’s own capital, in an offer that would have stood at around €170 million, below the €240 million initially on the table.
There are said to be various interested parties in buying EuroBic including the Haitong Investment Bank which is looking at increasing its operations in commercial banks.
The situation at EuroBic was caused by the Luanda Leaks when the scandal broke in January putting pressure on Angolan tycoon Isabel dos Santos and EuroBic in which she holds a 42.5% share.
Despite this, the daughter of the former President of Angola, José Eduardo Santos, is not allowed any voting rights at the next general assembly meeting in September on orders of the Bank of Portugal.