BPI boss says dividing up Novobanco would be a “total mistake”

The president of Portuguese bank BPI, João Pedro Oliveira said in an interview this week that if Caixa Geral de depósitos purchases all or even part of Novobanco, it would be tantamount to a nationalisation.

The banker said that of the various sale models, the possibility of breaking up Novobanco “into pieces” would be a “total mistake” leaving some to the “lions” and other parts for the “hyenas”, especially given the “millions of euros injected by the State” into both Novobanco and CGD during and since Portugal’s banking crisis.

“There is a lesson that needs to be drawn from this: for me supervision didn’t work and justice too doesn’t work” he said, referring to the slow, drawn out and endless court cases and appeals over who was responsible for the collapse of the Espírito Santo banking empire in 2014.

“We’re talking about the Espírito Santo case where we’re still trying to work out what happened and who was responsible.. To date it seems to be focusing on just one person (ex-Chairman Ricardo Salgado), but which must have involved many others.

“There can’t just be one person guilty in this story, this I don’t believe, and it’s just not possible. Time really does heal and the Portuguese really have a short memory, and that’s a shame,” said João Pedro Oliveira.

The banker also made an interesting comment on Portugal’s housing crisis: “The housing crisis is so important that the news channels are devoting so much airtime to it. But it requires courage to change; change bureaucracy, change the legislation, develop modular housing, and have someone in the government prepared to take account every month on the number of homes that we build, Until that is done, house prices will just keep on rising,” he said.

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