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.
