 |
| Nuno Amado, CEO of Millennium BCP |
It was only three years ago that Millennium BCP, Portugal’s second-largest bank, failed the ECB’s adverse scenario stress test. Its non-performing loan book stands above €8 billion. But following a €1.33 billion capital increase in February and the subsequent repayment of €700 million in government contingent convertible bonds, there is a self-assurance about the bank that competitors say has been absent for years.
There are other reasons, too, why Nuno Amado, Millennium BCP’s CEO since February 2012, has a spring in his step. Profits in 2016 were just shy of €24 million, up from the €250 million loss reported in the nine months to September. Costs have continued to fall and NPLs are declining.
Speaking to Euromoney, Amado describes February’s capital increase and contingent convertible bond repayment as “absolutely crucial”. It lifted the bank’s common equity tier-1 ratio above 11% and allows it to resume dividend and coupon payments to shareholders and hybrid debt investors.
Equally important for the longer term is what Amado describes as a newly balanced ownership structure, allowing China’s Fosun International to lift its holding in Millennium BCP from 16.7%