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Santander Totta Intends to Sell Loans and Real Estate Acquired with Popular

2 February 2018

The President of Santander Totta gives assurances that the merger of the two banks will be finalised in 2018.

Banco Popular no longer exists. Any trace of the bank that was bought last summer by Santander for one euro will be erased by the end of the year. “Little will be left by 2019,” António Vieira Monteiro said. The president of Santander Totta stated, during the presentation of the bank’s results for 2017, that the merger with Popular, which started a month ago, “is going well” and will be “completed without problems by the end of 2018,” as per expectations.

The integration of Popular into the Santander group guaranteed Vieira Monteiro’s bank its new position as the largest private financial institution in Portugal. Totta’s stock of loans jumped 25% in 2017 to more than 41 billion euros, with Popular contributing more than six billion euros. Santander “inherited” nearly four billion euros in the corporate lending sector alone.

However, Vieira Monteiro is not ruling out the possibility of selling a part of Popular’s former loan portfolio. “We’re not talking about Popular any longer; this is about Santander Totta. We sell credit portfolios that we believe are not viable or that lack proper provisioning. It is only natural that after our analysis of the portfolios acquired from Popular that there could be some sales. This also applies to real estate and other types of assets,” the executive explained.

The integration of the two banks’ branches is coming along, though the exact number of closures is not yet known. “There will be more than sixty but not more than a hundred. There are branches practically right next door to each other,” Vieira Monteiro argued. The executive declined to comment on the possible dismissal of Popular’s ex-employees, though he left the door open to such a possibility.

“Santander Totta has never implemented redundancies. All situations relating to the reduction of our staff are made on a case-by-case basis and through agreements with employees. When we talk about exits, this refers to the institution as a whole. They are not from one bank or the other,” he stressed, noting that when Banif joined the Santander group, reductions in staff happened at both institutions.

Mr Vieira Monteiro, however, pointed out that “it is clear that, faced with a merger of these two institutions, in a period in which fewer people are using banking branches, there will be a need for us to make careful arrangements in this matter.” In the first nine months of last year, close to 300 people left Santander Totta, mostly through termination agreements. After that date, Vieira Monteiro revealed, “a few dozen more left.” In Spain, the acquisition of Popular led to the departure of 1,100 employees, mainly through early retirement and voluntary dismissals.

For now, Popular’s ex-employees who received a salary below 1,200 euros will receive a raise. The bank’s new “minimum wage” began to be paid out in the first month of 2018, covering more than 100 workers.

Original Story: Dinheiro Vivo – Ana Sanlez

Photography: Reuters – Juan Medina

Translation: Richard Turner