Novo Banco lost €1.4 billion last year – 440 further jobs to go

Novo Banco, which was meant only to hold all the good loans and assets from the collapsed BES, has reported a net loss of €1.395 billion for 2017, significantly higher than the €788 million the bank lost in 2016.

The 2017 accounts, signed off by CEO António Ramalho, refer to the year in which the Resolution Fund sold 75% of Novo Banco’s shares to the American Lone Star Fund for zero euros, while hanging on to 25% to ensure the public would continue to throw billions at the disaster created by the Bank of Portugal.

The bank, led by António Ramalho, will now need €800 million from the Resolution Fund to remain solvent. This requires taxyers to lend the Resolution Fund a further €450 million.

The €1.395 billion loss was created by an increase in impairments so that can activate request the Contingent Capital Facility, meaning capital injections from the Resolution Fund, which has insufficient funds so will have to borrow the €450 million from the Treasury, aka the taxpayer.

Novo Banco can carry out this massive bad loan write-off with the blessing of the European Commission which, despite a current spat over Novo Banco’s allegedly slack lending controls,