Former AIB chief financial officer Mark Bourke was quick to send out a soothing email earlier this month to staff at Novo Banco, the Portuguese lender he now leads, after firing his chief risk officer and the filing of a complaint to the country’s prosecutor’s office – following an internal investigation into “suspicious financial transactions”.
The case is said to centre around the origin of large amounts of cash deposited in Portuguese banks by individuals linked to the former risk chief, Carlos Brandao. It is currently also being investigated by police.
Despite the investigation being a serious matter, “it is not related” to the bank and has “no impact whatsoever” on the lender’s activities, Bourke told staff in an email on the day that the sacking was announced.
A simultaneous press release by Novo Banco, which is controlled by US private equity firm Lone Star, highlighted that it had “no impact whatsoever on clients, clients’ accounts or transactions, on bank’s finances or activity, on its commercial operations, risk management system or employees”.
Bourke has stepped into the role of chief risk officer on an interim basis amid an effort to draw a line under the biggest crisis to hit the bank since the group was forced by regulators to burn a bunch of bondholders shortly after it emerged in 2014 as a “good bank” from failed lender Banco Espirito Santo.
It has since been reported by Bloomberg that Bourke and Lone Star remain keen to press ahead with either an initial public offering (IPO) or sale of Banco Novo. Deutsche Bank is advising on both options.
They will be emboldened, no doubt, by Novo Banco managing to secure more than €1.7 billion of orders from global investors last week for €500 million of bonds the bank set out to sell just days after the mini crisis.
[ Former AIB finance chief advances plan to float Portuguese bankOpens in new window ]
And they will be also mindful that European banking stocks have risen more than 30 per cent over the past 12 months and are currently hovering around levels last seen in mid-2015.
But with the European Central Bank on track to continue to cut interest rates at pace this year and the threat of fresh global trade tensions hanging in the air as Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, sentiment towards banks could turn quickly. Little wonder Bourke and Lone Star don’t want to hang around.
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