Novo Banco chief executive Mark Bourke said he’d like to continue in the role after the Portuguese lender’s acquisition by French banking group BPCE is completed next year.
Asked if he’d like to remain CEO, Bourke said “of course, absolutely.” Novo Banco will in the meantime “continue to simply execute strategy as is,” Bourke said in an interview on Thursday. “It’s pretty clear that you’re not going to do any major acquisitions or any other corporate activity.”
Mr Bourke was CFO of AIB from 2014 to 2019, helping lead the bank through its IPO in 2017. He moved to Novo Banco as CFO before taking the top job in 2022.
BPCE in June agreed to buy Novo Banco from Lone Star in a deal valuing the bank at around €6.4 billion. US private equity firm Lone Star owns 75 per cent of Novo Banco and injected just €1 billion in the rescued bank when it bought the stake in 2017. Portugal’s government holds 25 per cent of Novo Banco through entities including the country’s Resolution Fund and will also sell its stake.
BPCE chief executive Nicolas Namias said at the time that no job cuts were planned as part of the deal, which is expected to close in the first half of 2026.
The French firm, whose units include Banque Populaire and Natixis, said the transaction will be the largest cross-border bank acquisition in the euro area in more than 10 years. Lone Star had also considered the possibility of selling Novo Banco shares through an initial public offering.
Bourke said there was “huge interest” in the IPO, and that the bank “had the shareholder list from heaven.”
“You could have done it twice over,” he added. “It’s the best IPO that never happened.”
Novo Banco is Portugal’s fourth-biggest bank and first became profitable in 2021. It previously had to shed assets and sell soured debt to reduce its non-performing loan ratio, which was one of the highest in Europe after the bank emerged from the break-up of Banco Espirito Santo a decade ago.
On Thursday Novo Banco reported a 17 per cent rise in net income for the first half of the year and said it’s on track to meet its guidance for 2025. While net interest income fell 6.1 per cent in the first half, fee income climbed 11 per cent.
“Fees and commissions are well ahead of expectations,” Bourke said. “When you break it down, it’s across everything: it’s accounts, the activity from lending, asset management and bancassurance. The momentum of the business is good.” – Bloomberg
