BCP will save €35M p.a. with restructuring plan in place

The CEO of BCP said on Monday that the restructuring plan the bank has in place, which includes the departure of workers, will lead to savings of 35 million euros per year in the future.

BCP today reported profits of €12.3m in the first half of this year, down 84% on the same period in 2020. The accounts include spending of €87.2 million for restructuring costs in Portugal. BCP has a restructuring plan underway in which it may reduce up to 1,000 workers, according to unions.

At the presentation of results, Miguel Maya said that the restructuring plan has a cost of around 90 million euros this year but will lead in future to annual savings of 35 million euros.

This restructuring “is not about pandemic” but was already planned due to the habits of customers who “want the convenience of digital channels”, to technological developments that “allow higher levels of automation and efficiency” and to a “structural context of increased competition”.

Miguel Maya also said that there are more and more technology-based operators that compete with the bank, in several areas, even stating that some of them operate in an “unregulated” way, repeating a criticism he has made recurrently.

On 13 July, the seven banking sector unions held a demonstration in front of Parliament, against the redundancies, leaving the possibility of a national strike on the table. The initiative was unprecedented as it brought together for the first time the various unions in a joint action.

Last week, the members of the Labour and Social Security Commission voted unanimously for the PSD’s requests for a hearing with the banking sector unions and the executive chairman of BCP, Miguel Maya, which should take place this week.

The banking sector lost around 15,000 employees between 2009 and 2020 and this will again be a ‘black’ year.

Major Portuguese banks are planning to cut thousands of staff, with BCP and Santander Totta having the most ‘aggressive’ processes underway.

According to information available to Lusa, BCP wants 1.000 employees to leave through early retirement or rescission by mutual agreement (without access to unemployment benefits). If they don’t leave by mutual agreement, the company is considering collective redundancies.

In a letter to Prime Minister, the UGT union said last week it suspects there is cartelisation between the big banks for an unprecedented reduction of jobs in the sector, “at the expense of the pandemic and its effects”.