Banco de Portugal’s governor said this Wednesday that the recent turmoil in the global financial system makes more urgent the possibility of consolidation in the Portuguese banking sector, which offers “good reasons” to attract international players.
In an interview with Lusa agency, Mario Centeno recalled that when he signaled in November 2022 that the M&A movement in banking in Portugal was natural, he did not “face this turbulence that had begun” – although it tends to “disappear in the markets – a situation that he considers only to further emphasize the possibility.
He added that “unlike what happened a few years ago, today we have banking institutions that can be involved in these processes for good reasons, because they are stable, they are capitalized, they have business plans that give positive results during a very difficult period for banking, because periods of low rates, even negative ones, are very difficult processes for a normal retail banking business model.