Novobanco hands out €1.6 million in bonuses

Novobanco has once again handed out bonuses to its directors, this time worth €1.6 million.

In 2020 it handed out bonuses of €1.9 million according to its financial report of 2020. Despite previous criticisms from both the Government and the Bank of Portugal, the bank led by António Ramalho emphasises that these bonuses are based on the performance of the collective and individual performance of each member of the board and added “no payment was made”.
Moreover, it adds that this bonus is subject to future adjustments, and that any bonus will be paid if the bank is in a position to do so and only after the end of the restructuring process agreed with Brussels – which is almost completed.
The bonuses have never been seen in a good light by either the Government or the Bank of Portugal given the complicated period the bank has gone through in recent years, requiring successive injections of capital from the Resolution Fund and contributions from the public purse. In fact, Novo Banco tried to get the Resolution Fund to pay the bonuses, which it refused.
The bank says it has now turned the page with losses behind it with sustainable profits for the first time since it was set up in 2014. 2021 was the turning point with a profit of around €185 million, but nevertheless still had to go cap-in-hand to the Resolution Fund for €209 million which it refused to pay.
António Ramalho, the CEO is said to earn around €371,000 and got a deferred bonus of €38.1 million.
The CFO Mark Bourke also got €371,000 and a deferred bonus of €13,000.