Portuguese high-flyer joins loss-making Novo Banco

In a brave career move, Carla Antunes da Silva has accepted an invitation by US vulture fund, Lone Star, to join the general and supervisory board of Novo Banco.

 

Currently the director of strategy at Lloyds Banking Group, the Portuguese banker will join the all-male, all non-Portuguese supervisory board, taking the number of members to nine of a possible 12.

 

"Novo Banco informs, that at the bank's general meeting, the appointment of Carla Antunes da Silva as a member of the General and Supervisory Board for the current mandate was approved," reads the necessary statement to the Securities Market Commission.

 

The new part-time director will stay on at Lloyds banking Group and her appointment still needs to be approved by the European Central Bank. There should be no problem there as the ECB is keen on gender equality and has a policy to encourage the appointment of more women to top positions in the heady world of European banking.
 
Since October 2015, Carla Antunes da Silva has been in charge of strategy at Lloyds Banking Group which is run by António Horta Osório, a Portuguese businessman.

Before Lloyds’, she was at Credit Suisse and has worked at JPMorgan Chase & Co and Deutsche Bank. Carla Antunes da Silva has a MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University and a MSc in Management from the London School of Economics.
  
The current supervisory board’s mandate extends to 2020, having started last October when Lone Star was handed 75% of Novo Banco, the ‘good bank’ part of the failed Banco Espírito Santo. The Resolution Fund retained 25% in a deal which leaves Portugal’s taxpayers funding massive losses by propping up this fund which normally survives from contributions made by Portugal's banks.

 

The Novo Banco general and supervisory board looks at financial, risk, remuneration, appointments and compliance matters and supervises the operation of the bank and the performance of the executive board of directors.

 

This executive board, which runs the bank under António Ramalho, has six directors including Luísa Matos - the only female board member after the departure of Isabel Ferreira in March 2017.

 

One of Carla Antunes da Silva’s tasks will be to monitor the loss-making bank's financial performance and budgetary control, as well as the bank's general policies, none of which are in good shape.
 
Last week, losses declared by Novo Banco for 2017 were €1.395 billion, due to massive impairments for non-performing loans. As a result, the Resolution Fund has to find €792 million and needs a €450 million loan from Portugal’s long-suffering taxpayers.