Former and current CEO chairman BPI’s Fernando Ulrich said on Tuesday that he was “unfortunately” right about Novo Banco’s capital needs following the decision, regarding the institution’s rebuilding as a “success story.”
In his initial statement to the Novo Banco Commission of Inquiry, Fernando Ulrich recalled an interview given to Expresso in September 2014, in which he said he hoped Banco de Portugal had “done well” and did not believe that “in two or two years “. in three years “the bank could” be better. “
“Unfortunately, I was right in those two statements,” he told MPs today during an initial speech to the Ultimate Parliamentary Inquiry Commission on damages filed by Novo Banco and attributed to the Dispute Resolution Fund.
For the current BPI chairman, the “current issue” is whether Novo Banco’s losses were “incurred before August 2014” or later.
“I don’t have the elements to answer exactly, but my impression, my perception, my feeling based on my experience and what I observed, is that a very significant part of this 16.4 billion euros of capital was used to cover losses, this is due to decisions taken before August 2014, ”said the economist.
At the end of his initial intervention, which lasted about 25 minutes, the former BPI CEO said that “the tragedy caused by the bank’s management has been followed by a success story since August 2014.” However, Fernando Ulrich believed that “the bank’s capitalization efforts were distributed poorly and unfairly”, since “the participation of creditors should have been much greater and the participation of the Dispute Resolution Fund much less.”
During his speech, Fernando Ulrich also believed that the transfer of obligations made at the end of 2015 should have been more extensive, which “protected the public interest even more than what was done.” “I admit that there were serious reasons why this was not the way I would like,” he concluded.
