Banco Português de Fomento (BPF) executive president stressed on Wednesday that the institution’s added value lies in securing “project maturity and corporate finance,” which commercial banks “cannot currently achieve.”

“What is and goes [continuar a] guide our function add what the bank cannot [fazer] at the moment it is the maturity of projects and the financing of companies, ”said Beatrice Freitas in parliament during the hearings of the Commission on Economics, Innovation, Public Works and Housing.

The BPF President said that this is “added value that can be achieved with the help of new products that did not exist and that may appear”, both in terms of co-financing and in terms of recapitalization and financing.

In other words, looking at the company and being able to create solutions for financing and recapitalization, combining what was not possible in the past, because it was in different financial companies, and that this is a merger [das três entidades que deram origem ao Banco de Fomento] allows us to go even further, ”he stressed.

Among the shortcomings that currently exist in the market, those in charge pointed to those related to “instruments to stimulate innovation, decarbonization or digitalization”, as well as “failures at the level of recapitalization instruments”.

“All the tools that come from the following community structure and from PRR [Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência] they are tools that are designed to be used in green investments for innovation and digitalization, so this is one of our main concerns, ”he guaranteed.

Also, said Beatrice Freitas, “The issues of risk analysis, which the bank deals with, are completely different from the risk analysis of Banco de Fomento”“Our risk matrices include issues related not only to digitalization, but also to innovations that are difficult for our partners to understand,” he explained.

After making sure that the BPF “looks at the country” and was created “in order to be with companies,” Beatrice Freitas also believed that the bank should “treat micro and small businesses differently and more cautiously”“And that’s what we’ve been doing for the past few months,” he guaranteed.

To ensure proximity to the business structure, the BPF president noted that the bank “is developing not only physical channels, but also digital channels, which in the worst case will be available to companies by the end of the third quarter.” “We are few – we currently have 125 employees – and therefore we are developing digital channels to be closer to all Portuguese companies,” he said.

At the same time, he said, “within the group, ways of discussing and rethinking mutual guarantee societies agencies are the best way to connect with entrepreneurs, as they are scattered throughout the country and also exist in the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira – can provide effective a presence with entrepreneurs, assets and field staff doing the dissemination, technical assistance and monitoring work that some projects will certainly need in the future. “

BPF’s executive president said she is “looking good” at the entry of the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira into the organization’s capital, as it will allow it “to use more financial instruments.” “As for the participation of the autonomous regions in the capital of the bank, as for the management, we welcome the participation and increase in the capital of the bank by regions,” said Beatrice Freitas.

The person in charge, however, acknowledged that this issue “goes beyond” the bank’s management, being “something to be decided between the shareholders” of the institution: IAPMEI – Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation, AICEP – Investment and Foreign Trade Agency of Portugal, Turismo. de Portugal and the Directorate General of Treasury and Finance (DGTF).

But any increase in the bank’s capital will allow attracting more financial instruments, ”he stressed.

With regard to Madeira and the Azores, the President of Banco de Fomento stressed that the institution already provides “capital instruments dedicated to each of the autonomous regions”which “is now again starting to promote ‘webinars’ to distribute these tools.”

“In terms of product design, Banco de Fomento is located in close proximity to the autonomous regions of Azores and Madeira. I speak, sometimes more often than once a week, with regional authorities, not only about the design of new products, but also to solve some of the problems that arise with [sua] implementation, ”he said.

Recalling the recent signing of a memorandum of cooperation with the Autonomous Region of Azores, the general director of Banco de Fomento said that “I am confident that this measure is already being discussed with the government of the Autonomous Region of Madeira”.

In his opinion, such an initiative will allow the bank “to come even closer to the needs of the autonomous communities.”