Caixabank is also mulling an increase in its 44 per cent stake in BPI, which would put the Barcelona-based bank alongside Portugal's state-owned Caixa Geral de Depositos, the country's largest bank, and Millennium BCP, as market leaders.
"The Portuguese banking sector is today quite different
from what it was one year ago, and it is likely to be quite
different in a year´s time as we go through times of
significant change," Pedro Cassiano Santos, banking and
finance partner at Vieira de Almeida in Lisbon, says.
The Novo Banco sale will usher in a change in the country's
banking profile, leaving just Caixa Geral and BCP as the sole
Portuguese players, and signalling both positive and negative
effects for corporate and retail customers, Cassiano Santos
explains. As a result of the changing environment, he says there
will be an onus on law firms to provide advice on retail banking
relationships and take on compliance cases relating to how banks
relate to their customers and grant credit.
Looking on the bright side, Cassiano Santos says institutional
investors will be keen to participate in capital markets and take
advantage of the perceived good opportunities, and, with a push
toward securitisation, Portugal will be able to offer better
guarantees to investors in asset-backed securities.
But there is also a downside. There will be a drop in the volume of
investment banking activity and it will be more difficult for
smaller companies to procure credit, Cassiano Santos says. However,
that may be offset by changes in corporate law that facilitate
access to debt and hybrid capital markets, particularly for smaller
players.
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