At least 300 bank branches closed in Portugal last year

Paul Rees 01 January 2018

santander2 Between January and September last year, 1,300 bank workers in Portugal were ‘let go’, many of them from Novo Banco.

The largest number of branch closures was at Caixa Geral de Depósitos which shut 129 outlets and now has 588.

As at the end of last September, the top five banks had 2,680 branches in Portugal, 349 fewer than at the end of 2016.

BPI closed more than 100 branches last year. The bank, now owned by Spain's Caixabank, had 434 branches in Portugal in September, down 111 from December the year before.

Santander Totta closed 67 branches, with the Spanish bank having 575 branches in Portugal as at last September. This was prior to taking on 100 Banco Popular Portugal branches. Novo Banco shut down 58 branches, leaving it 449 outlets last September.

Most of the exiting workers took the deals on offer, more than 1,300 left between January and September, or took generous early retirement packages.

The largest number left Novo Banco, now owned by the US vulture fund Lone Star, with 390 people leaving, followed by BPI where 347 employees went. The third largest reduction in personnel was at Caixa Geral de Depósitos where 298 fewer employees were registered at the end of September 2017 that at the beginning of that year.

In total, at the end of September, 2017, the five main banks in Portugal employed 31,813 workers with 2,000 expected to leave the overstuffed sector in 2018 - the presidents of the main banks admitted in November 2017, at the Banking Forum, that this restructuring is necessary to reduce costs while continuing to gouge customers with increases in account charges dressed up as 'management fees,' thus avoiding regulatory scrutiny.

Comments

+1 #4 Ed 2018-01-03 07:38

Quoting Denby:

What about people who have difficulty with reading and writing or older people who do not have access to the internet.
When ATM machines were introduced, there was no fee to withdraw money, now in the UK banks charge a substantial fee to withdraw your own money. I fear that this will increase when you don't have the option of going into the bank.

One of the hopes was for these people to be able to use the new CTT - Post Office bank but this turned out to be available only in large branches with small ones now starting to close (20 announced yesterday) as part of a restructuring programme. The directors of this sold-off State service have proved incapable of running a public service business and so the closure programme starts...

+1 #3 Denby 2018-01-03 00:16

What about people who have difficulty with reading and writing or older people who do not have access to the internet.
When ATM machines were introduced, there was no fee to withdraw money, now in the UK banks charge a substantial fee to withdraw your own money. I fear that this will increase when you don't have the option of going into the bank.

0 #2 Plain Speaking 2018-01-02 13:37

Cannot agree that consumers are being corralled into online banking. It's what consumers want. When was the last time you wanted to or needed to go to a bank? In the future the bank will come to you, either online or via professional financial advisers. Competition will increase for your business not decrease.

+1 #1 Denby 2018-01-02 10:31

This large US banking group seem to be reducing it's high street banks in most of the European countries.
This seems to be the way that consumer's are been corralled into using online banking and another way to reduce operating costs thus taking away jobs from people.
My worry is that banks will then have ultimate control over how we manage our money, as we will no longer have the bank to go into for information.
Also once we are all using online banking, the banks can increase the cost of banking and the the consumer will have no protection from this.

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