Polite refusal

The President of the Administrative Council as well as six other members of Portuguese bank CaixaGeral de Depósitos (CGD) resigned from the bank after weeks of uproar regarding legislation passed in the Portuguese parliament mandating that administrators of the state-owned bank would have to present an asset declaration to the country’s Constitutional Court (TC).
The former president, AntónioDomingues, has spent less than three months in the position, and considered the new legislation damaging to the administrative autonomy of CGD. The Portuguese Finance Ministry has already accepted his resignation, to take place in December.
Domingues is joined by three executive administrators and three non-executive administrators of the bank.
The executive accepted his position at CGD – the parent company of BNU Macau – on August 31, just days after the European Commission announced an agreement with the Portuguese government for the recapitalisation of the bank, news agency Lusa reported.
The Portuguese government has announced it will add 2.7 billion euros to CGD’s capital in 2017, bringing the total expected amount to 5 billion euros.
CGD registered considerable losses of 205.2 million euros (MOP1.8 billion/US$229.2 million) for the first half of 2016, with Mr.Domingues stating that a capital increase would be his main focus after taking the position.
However, the banker was involved in a series of controversies shortly after taking the helm of CGD, and was criticised for bringing many former administrators from private bank BancoPortuguês de Investimento (BPI), where he previously worked as Vice-President, to the state-owned bank.
A new controversy also arose after the country’s Finance Minister,MárioCenteno revealed that Mr. Rodrigues would receive an annual remuneration of 423,000 euros, with the remaining CGD administrators receiving an annual salary of 337,000 euros, Lusa reported. This generated some criticism from the country’s media and political representatives.
Despite Mr. Rodrigues’ resignation, the legislation passed by the Portuguese parliament will mandate CGD administrators fully disclose their assets, with refusal to do so leading to the prohibition of holding a position at the bank for a period of one to five years.