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Best Bank: Banco Santander Totta |
In a tumultuous year for Portuguese banking, two of the five largest groups required recapitalization. Banco Espírito Santo raised €1.2 billion – this followed a May 2006 capital-raising of €1.38 billion. However, shareholders’ equity today is only about €4.6 billion, raising questions about the group’s capital consumption. During the awards period, BES still had the lowest tier I capital of the big five.
Millennium BCP, the largest private financial institution, with the biggest branch network, was forced to raise €1.3 billion through a rights issue and is still struggling with some of the highest cost-income ratios in the sector, the lowest core capital and the lowest return on equity of the big five.