Caixa Geral de Depósitos should have a new administration next week
During the interview to the Portuguese newspaper DN and radio station TSF, Mário Centeno does not state if CGD’s recapitalization will have an impact on the deficit, for which he claims credit.
António Domingues, former CGD’s CEO and chairman, left Caixa Geral de Depósitos last Saturday, while Paulo Macedo is still waiting for the European Central Bank’s ‘all clear’ to take charge of the largest Portuguese bank. In the interview published this Wednesday in the Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias and radio station TSF, the minister of Finance played down the issue and says he expects the ECB will decide positively during next week. The names for Paulo Macedo’s team, he assures, “have been tested”.
“I hope to have that process finished during the next couple of days”, stated Mário Centeno, adding that it is a process that “does not depend on the Government”, but on ECB’s timings – although Centeno stresses once more that he expects the transition will be concluded shortly.
Concerning the possibility of CGD’s recapitalization having an impact on the state’s deficit, Mário Centeno does not risk making any predictions. The minister merely states that the operation has not been classified by Brussels as having had the state’s help and, therefore, Eurostat should classify it as an investment and not as an expense.
Who takes credit for CGD’s recapitalization?
In his goodbye letter to CGD’s employees, which ECO had access to, António Domingues wrote: “CGD’s recapitalization plan and the Strategic Plan build by CGD’s teams, negotiated and presented with the shareholder to the European authorities, are concrete products of an intense work programme we took on for the past month, aiming to create better growth conditions for CGD”.
Not only did he claim credit for the operation, but Domingues even blamed the government for having postponed the operation: “The final recapitalization calendar comes from the shareholder’s decision”.
In DN/TSF interview, the minister of Finance enters the ‘credit battle’: “The team that managed the process was a very cohesive team, in the Ministry of Finance, and every political and technical issue was discussed with professionalism and care – as I am sure António Domingues has equally done; I have stated this ofter…”.
Still on the issue of declarations of income and patrimony
The minister of Finance did not clarify whether or not the government assured António Domingues he did not need to hand in the declarations of income and patrimony to the Constitutional Court. Mário Centeno only said: “The government assured António Domingues that he had every means and conditions to be able to head Caixa Geral de Depósitos for four years given the goals set by the government for CGD’s mission”.
Mário Centeno states there were “many understanding concerning the legislation and it is what it is”, while adding what seemed to be a hint at António Domingues: “When one is in charge of an institution as large as CGD […] one needs to be able to respond to the interpretations that are made…”.
