Paulo Macedo: “There are daily attempts to politicize CGD”
CGD's CEO told ECO the bank aims to be a reference in Portugal. In the assessment of his first 100 days in office, Macedo warns the public bank "doesn't have a network restructuring on a whim".
On the aftermath of the first 100 days in office at Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), and after having presented the balance of the first quarter of the year, Paulo Macedo agreed to answer, via email, a few questions asked by ECO.
In the presentation of CGD‘s results, Paulo Macedo mentioned the bank’s recapitalization was the most important moment of these 100 days. Macedo explains that CGD is implementing its strategic plan, namely: getting to know the people and agencies, defining the amount of impairments, closing the negotiations between “the Portuguese State and European DGComp” and finishing the “capital increase”. Macedo states the bank is now “focused on reducing costs”, since it presented 39 million euros in losses in the first quarter of 2017.
As for the hardest decision so far, he mentions it was “reducing the staff” and “closing agencies and increasing commissions“. In order to soothe the impact of the closure of branches (61 in 2017), Paulo Macedo asked the Bank of Portugal for permission to have a mobile branch service, namely vans, to go to Portuguese rural areas and aged population providing banking services.
Macedo emphasizes, however, that he does not want the public bank to be used for regional elections’ politics: “There are daily attempts to politicize CGD or to bring it to the heart of the political debate, whether nationally or locally. CGD does not have a restructuring of its network on a whim”.
The first 100 days
In order to be more profitable, the CEO of the public bank set a path for these 100 days in this info graphics it revealed when presenting CGD‘s accounts:
