António Domingues is the new non-executive director of Banco CTT

  • ECO News
  • 9 December 2022

The new board of Banco CTT was elected at the start of this week at a general meeting, after having received prior approval from the Bank of Portugal.

António Domingues is returning to the Portuguese banking sector after a short and troubled stint at Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) six years ago. The manager (ex-BPI) was elected non-executive director on the new board of Banco CTT, which includes another newcomer: Ana Maria Fernandes, the former CEO of EDP Renováveis, that also worked at the public bank.

Contacted by ECO, António Domingues – who, as an independent, will also integrate the audit commission – confirmed that he joined the bank’s board but did not want to make further comment.

The new board of Banco CTT was elected at the start of this week at a general meeting after receiving prior approval from the Bank of Portugal, an official source from the financial institution told ECO.

For António Domingues, it is a return to the retail banking sector in Portugal after decades at BPI and a few months as CEO of Caixa in 2016, following the controversy related to the submission of income and asset declarations to the Constitutional Court.

There was even a commission of enquiry in Parliament to ascertain responsibilities in this case. The director believed that he and his team were exempt from delivering these declarations to the court during negotiations with the finance minister to go to the public bank to negotiate with Brussels and lead the recapitalisation plan. Mário Centeno admitted a “mutual misunderstanding” in this case and that António Domingues – who would eventually resign in December that year – would even have to declare under the public manager statute.

Over the last six years, Domingues has served on the board of NOS and BFA, the Angolan bank in which BPI has a 49% stake. He is also on the board of Haitong, the investment bank that used to belong to BES.

CTT renews board before Generali joins

Besides António Domingues, Banco CTT appointed two new names to its board of directors: Ana Maria Fernandes, the former CEO of EDP Renováveis, who also served on the board of Caixa, and Maria de Sousa Coutinho.

With these changes, the board of Banco CTT now has 12 members (one more than the previous administration), with João Moreira Rato remaining as chairman and Luís Pereira Coutinho leading the executive committee, which has not changed. It has a mandate until December 2025. The bank’s statutes were recently amended to extend the maximum number of directors to 13.

The changes in the board come when the bank is preparing to welcome a new shareholder: Generali, which will take an 8.71% stake for €25 million. The operation is awaiting the green light from regulators.