ECB approves new CGD management: It has 17 members, is more feminine and has Louis Nazari

The European Central Bank has finally approved the new administration of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, which It was proposed last July, but was supposed to be in operation since the first half of the year. There are 17 members, and in addition to the names already reported, there is something new: Louis Nazari, a socialist activist and former head of CTT and Anacom, is entering as a non-executive director.

“With the successful completion of the assessment process (“appropriate and appropriate”) by the European Central Bank, following the proposal submitted on July 29, 2021 to Banco de Portugal, the Government has decided to elect a new Board of Directors for the Caixa Geral of Deposits (CGD) to mandate 2021-2024,” The Ministry of Finance announced in a statement to the newsrooms, sent on Monday, December 20. There is no explanation for the delay in the arrival of the green light from Frankfurt.

The new management team will have a Non-Executive Chairman Antonio Farinha Moraes, who came from BPI, replaced Roy Villar, who had already announced that he was leaving his position. “I would like to thank Dr. Roy Villar for the essential role he has played in this last period in the success of the CGD, that is, the conclusion of the restructuring process,” Joao Liao, Minister of State and Finance, said in the statement.

Two exits, two entrances

Paulo Macedo continues as CEO of the largest bank in the Portuguese system, and the executive team that he will have has undergone some changes. José Joao Guilherme, Francisco Carey, Joao Tudela Martins, Maria Joao Carioca and Nuno Martins remain executive members, joined by Madalena Talon, of BPI, and Manuela Martins, who was already at the bank, Names already given by Express.

The Executive Committee left two names who joined Macedo: Jose Brito, who was in charge of financial management, and Carlos Albuquerque, who left Banco de Portugal to take over the management of the public bank. Jose Brito remains in the bank structure, but will become a non-executive director.

The new composition of the CGD Board of Directors is based on a continuity strategy, with some elements of renewal, which is the Chairman of the Board of Directors, with the aim of maintaining the stability of the management and striving for good results in the coming years. The selection or reappointment of new directors was guided by the criteria of competence, a high sense of public interest, independence and ethical values”, justifies the statement issued by the Ministry of Finance.

For the new term, until 2024, CGD no longer has a separate supervisory board, chaired by Guilherme Oliveira Martins, and now has an audit committee within the board. The chair of this committee is Antonio Assis, a chartered auditor with a history at PricewaterhouseCoopers and who has audited companies in the financial sector for years, being responsible for the supervisory board of several CGD entities. This audit committee includes Jose de Brito (aforementioned former CFO), Novabase Director Maria del Carmen Marin and Accounting Academy Maria Joao Ferreira Major.

more feminine box

In the range of non-executives, who do not make up the executive committee, are Arlindo Oliveira (former coach) and Hans Helmut Kotz. Dutchman Monique Eugenie Hemerijck is one of the newcomers, along with Louis Nazari, the former head of Anacom and CTT, who now works in a newsstand, when he tried to launch the Postal Bank when he was at the post office.

From the departure of non-executives on the board of directors of the General Bank, there are a few names: Ana Maria Fernandez, Marie Jane Antenen, Altina Villamarin, Nuno Cunha Rodriguez, and Jose Azevedo Rodriguez.

In terms of gender distribution, something the moderators insisted, Caixa became more feminine. From 16 members of 4 women, only 1 executive, the general bank now has 17 members, with 6 administrators, three of them with executive positions.

In the statement now issued by the Ministry of Finance, there is a continuation of the work carried out in the previous mandate: “In recent years, CGD has returned to levels of profitability that have allowed it to begin paying off the recapitalization efforts of the Portuguese, with this year’s payment an extraordinary dividend of 300 million euros. In addition, CGD has increased its capital ratios, with ratios now above average in Portugal and in other EU member states, allowing it to face the pandemic situation in a better position with its national and European peers.”