Banco Comercial Português

Banco Comercial Português S.A.

Type	Sociedade Anónima
Traded as	Euronext: BCP
Industry	Banking, Financial Services
Founded	1985
Headquarters	Porto, Portugal
Key people	Nuno Amado (CEO), António Monteiro (Chairman of the supervisory board)
Products	Retail, business and investment banking, insurance, fund management
Revenue	€2.823 billion (2010)[1]
Operating income	€293.3 million (2010)[1]
Profit	€-740.5 million (2010)[2]
Total assets	€100.01 billion (end 2010)[1]
Total equity	€7.247 billion (end 2010)[1]
Number of employees	21,770 (average, 2010)[1]
Subsidiaries	Millennium BCP, Millennium BIM, Bank Millennium
Website	www.millenniumbcp.pt

Banco Comercial Português (BCP) (English: Portuguese Commercial Bank), is a Portuguese bank that was founded in 1985 and is the largest private bank in the country. BCP is a member of the Euronext 100 stock index and its current chief executive officer is Nuno Manuel da Silva Amado. BCP is based in Porto, but its operations are headquartered in Oeiras, Greater Lisbon. It operates a branch brand dubbed and restyled in 2004 as Millennium BCP as well as Banque BCP and ActivoBank.

It has nearly 4.3 million customers throughout the world and over 900 branches in Portugal. In 2008, it reported a profit of €201 million. It was ranked at number 453 in the 2007 Forbes Global 2000 list. However, by 2012, the bank was in deep financial stress and had to be rescued by a state bailout of 3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in state funds it took from the country's IMF/EU bailout package.

History

BCP was founded in 1985 by Jardim Gonçalves and a group of investors from the Porto region.

Since 2004, it operates a branch brand dubbed and restyled as Millennium BCP, following a process of amalgamating all the brand names and complete incorporation of all commercial structures of the group's retail banking:

• Nova Rede (the bank's brand for its own network of retail banking branches since 1989)
• Crédibanco (network of branches created by the BCP itself in 1993)
• Banco Português do Atlântico (acquired in 1995 and incorporated in 2000)
• Banco Mello (acquired in 2000 and incorporated in 2000)
• Banco Sotto Mayor (acquired in 2000)

Aborted merger with BPI (2007)

On 25 October 2007, a smaller Portuguese bank, BPI - Banco Português de Investimento ("Portuguese Investment Bank") offered a merger with BCP. The board of BCP initially refused as long as terms were not be revised. The merger talks failed and the two banks didn't reach an agreement.

Former operations in Canada

Bank of Montreal (BMO) purchased the Canadian division of BCP Bank in the summer of 2007. All branches in Canada remained BCP Bank branches until October 2007, when they became BMO branches. These branches continue to operate as specialty branches to Lusophone communities, including Azorean communities in Toronto, Ontario, except the Dundas Street West and University Avenue branches, which have turned towards the Chinese community.

Insolvency and state bailout

In the middle of the European sovereign debt crisis, Portugal's largest listed bank Millennium bcp close last year with a core tier of 9,4%, beyond EU/IMF demands for 2011, but it was planning to raise more than that.^[3] CEO Nuno Amado told reporters after presenting first-quarter results the bank planned to “reinforce its capital beyond the minimum requirements” via a cash call and by resorting to a recapitalisation line for banks under Portugal's €78-bn EU/IMF bailout. He said the bank would rely more on the recapitalisation line than on cash call, but would not give more details. Analysts have said BCP needs around €3bn in new capital to meet the 9% target set by the European Banking Authority, but the raising rescue value, in line with neighbouring Spain bank Bankia, prompted fears of a deeper crisis in the Portuguese bank. On June 7, 2012, the bank was rescued by the Portuguese Government headed by Pedro Passos Coelho, through 3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in state funds it toke from the country's IMF/EU bailout package.^[4]

Shareholder structure

As of 30 June 2009, BCP's main shareholders are Sonangol Group with 9.99%, Grupo Teixeira Duarte with 7.03%, Joe Berardo with 4.86% and Banco Sabadell with 4.43%.^[5]

Operations in Poland

A branch of Bank Millennium in Poland

Bank Millennium is BCP's network of branches in Poland. Bank Millennium was founded in 1989 when the Polish free market and democratic political transformations started. The bank was the first financial institution quoted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (1992) and gained its present scale through mergers with other banks (in 1992 and 1997), as well as organic growth supported by the new business model, which has been developed in co-operation with its owner - the Portuguese bank Millennium BCP, which holds 51% of its shares. Bank Millennium, together with its subsidiaries in Poland, provides specialized financial services such as leasing, brokerage, and mutual funds, which makes it one of the largest banking groups in Poland.

Controversies

In 2007, Millennium BCP faced turmoil amid probes of its accounts by Portuguese financial crime investigators, the central bank (BdP - Banco de Portugal) and stock market authorities (CMVM - Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários). The preliminary findings of an investigation by the CMVM stock market authority alleged the existence of several off-shore companies which Millennium BCP could have used to buy its own shares when it increased its capital in 2000 and 2001. The investigations were launched as a result of a complaint by a leading shareholder, José "Joe" Berardo, who owns 6.8% of the bank. He provided crime investigators with documents which, he alleged, showed that several offences had been committed. The documents provided by Berardo are said to prove various cases of fraud committed by various members of past boards of directors at the bank. The Economic Corruption and Financial Crime Investigative Committee, Direcção-Central de Investigação da Corrupção e Criminalidade Económica e Financeira (DCICCEF), was also to call Berardo, former temporary CEO Filipe Pinhal, former Chairman Jardim Gonçalves, shareholder Goês Ferreira, and former ousted CEO Paulo Teixeira Pinto, amongst others, to give or answer to evidence.

See also

• Bank Millennium (Poland)
• Millennium bim (Mozambique)
• Millennium (Angola)
• Millennium Private banking (Suisse)

References

External links

• Official website

PSI-20 companies of Portugal Altri Banco Comercial Português Banco Português de Investimento Banif CTT Correios de Portugal Energias de Portugal EDP Renováveis Galp Energia Impresa Jerónimo Martins Mota-Engil NOS Portucel Soporcel PHarol Redes Energéticas Nacionais Semapa Sonae Teixeira Duarte

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